Yeah, “AP” is the right value. It’s CLIENT, AP, or SETUP.
Wow, that does sound pretty hosed. This sounds weird and close enough to the 2 “WiFi not saving” reports that makes me wonder if not only the html file was corrupted, but perhaps the nonvolatile memory stuff the ESP32’s use to store network settings. I might take the approach of nuking that whole part of flash when it’s put into setup mode.
— Just saw your post —
Glad it’s working! Wow, thanks @jeff, thats super cool.
I think perhaps it just reinstalled the web page, if the status bar shows 3.11, then the firmware part didn’t complete (it updates in 2 parts, the page then firmware), which is a bit odd! I know you tried all the different kinds of power to get it working, but I wonder if power issues could explain the initial corruption, what power were you using during update?
I’d export all of your patterns (less to worry about!) then I’d try disconnecting the LEDs, power via USB, and try running the update again. You wont cause any serious problems using the newer web app with an older firmware, but the new firmware has quite a few stability fixes that I’d recommend.