ESP32 Wifi DHCP Discover broadcast failure New Chip vs Old

[FluxGS]

Hello and thank you for reviewing.
I have prototyped an IOT device using the ESP32 WROOM-32 Module, wherein 100 modules were used from 2018. ALL GOOD!
I just finished a build with two new Reels (1100) of WROOM-32 modules, same design and am having a significant Wifi DHCP connection issue with an error indicating that SSID found, Wifi STA and CON; however a timeout waiting for an IP.
I used a network analyzer to watch the activity and see that the new modules post up onto the Wifi with a DHCP Discover, multiple times with no answer (ie:Offer / Request / Ack) handshake from the DHCP server, thus timing out with no connection.

I am using the same boards and the same firmware. The exception is the ESP32-WROOM modules which are newer.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Possibly the newer modules take advantage of newer toolchain builds with (now) enabled features that were not available prior so that my firmware leaves these in a default state which is different than the previous modules?

The antenna gives the same Db signal strength of an Access Point for either so the antenna is OK.

Module marking: (hard to read)
2019 Modules: ESP000V307
2018 Modules: ESP000V301

[ESP_Sprite]

Can you try erasing all the flash on a module that gives you problems and reprogramming it?

[FluxGS]

Hello and thank you for the suggestions, I did do a complete erase then a re flash; same situation.

[FluxGS]

Hello and another clue; which seems to be the issues is that the new chip trys a DHCP Discover less times than the old chip before returning a failure. Since our DHCP server is not too responsive, the failure rate is much higher.

HELP; please help direct me to the parameters which will set the number of DHCP Discover attempts are made before an IP timeout.
Thank U

[WiFive]

If you are using the exact same app bin then it would suggest a hardware problem such as https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?t=11743&start=20 otherwise some external network issue.

[FluxGS]

Hello, it is not related to the internal RF problem noted in your link because once connected, the range and performance is as expected.

The network is the same, the hardware design is the same and the flash bin file is the same. My understanding of the ESP32 Module with RTOS is that some of the firmware is within the module and that the Flash Bin File is my app. Anyhow, I can see from network analyzer that the new chips initiate less DCHP Discovery requests and hence timeout easier.

I am trying to learn how to increase the Discovery count to give my DHCP Server more time to respond.

[WiFive]

It is true that there is rom code in the chip for low level things but I don't think this has changed between 2018 & 2019 and it seems unlikely to cause this type of problem. What will have changed is the Mac addresses so I don't know if your DHCP server has some Mac filtering. If you see fewer dhcp requests from the same app bin it could mean those packets are not successful which is a potential rf problem.

https://github.com/espressif/esp-lwip/b ... cp.c#L1088

You can try turning on lwip debugging and changing the delay between retries