Smart plug not reconnecting to WiFi after reboot or update

kabadisha

I'm looking for ideas to explain why my smart plug won't reconnect to wifi when I reboot it or when an update is applied. Whenever I reboot the plug from Home Assistant, it won't reconnect and instead advertises it's own AP.
If I connect to the AP, it can see the network. I set the password and then it's all good. The plug shows up in ESP home and everything. If I reboot again however, the same thing happens.
I've tried extending the ap_timeout to 2mins, but no dice.
Here is my config:

substitutions:
  name: "small-aquarium-smart-plug"
  friendly_name: Small Aquarium Smart Plug
  # Default Relay State
  # Aka: `restore_mode` in documentation
  # Options: `RESTORE_DEFAULT_OFF`, `RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON`, `ALWAYS_ON` & `ALWAYS_OFF`
  default_state: "ALWAYS_ON"
  main_icon: "power-socket-uk"
packages:
  localbytes.plug-pm: github://LocalBytes/esphome-localbytes-plug/localbytes-plug-pm.yaml@main
esphome:
  name: ${name}
  name_add_mac_suffix: false
  friendly_name: ${friendly_name}
esp8266:
  board: esp01_1m
  # early_pin_init specifies whether pins should be initialised as early as possible to known values.
  # Recommended value is false where switches are involved, as these will toggle when updating the firmware or when restarting the device.
  # Defaults to true.
  early_pin_init: false
  restore_from_flash: true
api:
  encryption:
    key: # removed for posting on forum.
wifi:
  ap:
    ap_timeout: 2min
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
  power_save_mode: LIGHT
  domain: .lan

My Google-fu seems to be failing me, so any help would be appreciated :-)

AAllport

Is it just happening with this device?
Do you have any other in the addon?

My instinct would say it's not correctly pulling the said and password from the ESPHome addon?
There should be a button in the addon to view your secrets where you can double check your credentials!

kabadisha

OK, that's bizarre. I had already checked the credentials as you suggested - they were fine.
However, your idea to try a different plug was a good one. I happen to have a spare, so fired it up, adopted it and copy/pasted the config (except the encryption key and name). Worked first time.

Tried hitting install on the one that was giving me trouble yesterday and bingo! Also worked first time.
I swear I have changed nothing at all. I can only guess that maybe my router was being slow to allocate a connection yesterday maybe?

Very strange. Thanks for your help though!

kabadisha

Update: Spoke too soon. Just tried restarting both the original and the newly minted spare. Both failed to connect to the wifi this time despite being within 4 feet of the router. Again, both connected fine once I connected to their AP and entered credentials. I have changed nothing.

Will try doing some more diagnosis in the morning, but I'm struggling to find any clues so far.