LZTech

I had a very similar issue to this one. I had a TP-Link Archer C4000 router and was having connection issues. After flashing the firmware, the ratgdo would take 1-2 minutes to connect to wifi and then would allow me to open it's hosted webpage to make changes to settings. I was unable to see the ratgdo on my network listing of devices in my router and the ratgdo was also assigned an address way outside of my router's parameters. After selecting settings and resetting the ratgdo, I was never able to reconnect to the settings page of the ratgdo (it would just timeout). Also, it would go the full 500 attempts to try to connect to my wifi, give-up, and then get stuck in a loop of trying to send mqtt messages and failing. I had another Netgear router here so I decided to install it and see if it made a difference. It is a Netgear AX1800 which is a newer router compared to the TP-Link. Now the ratgdo connects to the router without issue (within seconds) and reconnects easily if reset. I can access the settings page easily and MQTT is sending and receiving messages. I also have an IP address assigned to the ratgdo that is within the router's list of addresses. I'm not sure why the previous router was causing issues. I have other ESP32 boards that I have been using for years for MQTT and those work flawlessly with my old router (and my Netgear as well). I hope this helps someone.