There has been an assumption that device has to be told to connect but Wifi already does it's best to connect in the background. Calling WiFi.begin while device is already trying to connect will occasionally cause WiFi to lock up. Only call WiFi.begin after calling WiFi.disconnect. These changes are aimed at stopping WiFi.begin from being called at the wrong time.

The concept of autoconnect is also deprecated because it is trying to do what the device is already doing.  Calling this method will now block until WiFi connects. It has been changed to wait for 10 seconds then go into setup mode if connection fails. Sketch can avoid blocking call then use (WiFi.status()==WL_CONNECTED) test to see if connected yet.

Removed - Tries to reconnect in station mode with  whatever credentials have been saved when StartConfigPortal times out otherwise device will be without WiFi after exiting StartConfigPortal. - because it was wrong.

Author: kentaylor

WiFiManager.cpp

@@ -127,7 +127,11 @@ boolean WiFiManager::autoConnect() {
   String ssid = "ESP" + String(ESP.getChipId());
   return autoConnect(ssid.c_str(), NULL);
 }
-
+/* This is not very useful as there has been an assumption that device has to be
+told to connect but Wifi already does it's best to connect in background. Calling this
+method will block until WiFi connects. Sketch can avoid
+blocking call then use (WiFi.status()==WL_CONNECTED) test to see if connected yet.
+*/
 boolean WiFiManager::autoConnect(char const *apName, char const *apPassword) {
   DEBUG_WM(F(""));
   DEBUG_WM(F("AutoConnect"));
@@ -136,15 +140,22 @@ boolean WiFiManager::autoConnect(char const *apName, char const *apPassword) {
   //String ssid = getSSID();
   //String pass = getPassword();
 
-  // attempt to connect; should it fail, fall back to AP
+  // device will attempt to connect by itself; wait 10 secs
+  // to see if it succeeds and should it fail, fall back to AP
   WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
-
-  if (connectWifi("", "") == WL_CONNECTED)   {
-    DEBUG_WM(F("IP Address:"));
-    DEBUG_WM(WiFi.localIP());
-    //connected
-    return true;
-  }
+  unsigned long startedAt = millis();
+    while(millis() - startedAt < 10000)
+    {
+        delay(100);
+        if (WiFi.status()==WL_CONNECTED) {
+			float waited = startedAt - millis();
+			DEBUG_WM(F("After waiting "));
+			DEBUG_WM(waited/1000);
+			DEBUG_WM(F(" secs local ip: "));
+			DEBUG_WM(WiFi.localIP());
+            return true;
+		}
+    }
 
   return startConfigPortal(apName, apPassword);
 }
@@ -208,13 +219,6 @@ boolean  WiFiManager::startConfigPortal(char const *apName, char const *apPasswo
     }
     yield();
   }
-  //Timed out so go back to station mode using system-stored ssid and pass
-   if (connectWifi(WiFi.SSID().c_str(),WiFi.psk().c_str()) != WL_CONNECTED) {
-           DEBUG_WM(F("Failed to connect after configuration mode timeout."));
-         } else {
-           //connected
-           WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
-        }
   server.reset();
   dnsServer.reset();
 
@@ -231,26 +235,16 @@ int WiFiManager::connectWifi(String ssid, String pass) {
     WiFi.config(_sta_static_ip, _sta_static_gw, _sta_static_sn);
     DEBUG_WM(WiFi.localIP());
   }
-  //fix for auto connect racing issue
-  if (WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED) {
-    DEBUG_WM("Already connected. Bailing out.");
-    return WL_CONNECTED;
-  }
-  //check if we have ssid and pass and force those, if not, try with last saved values
+  //check if we have ssid and pass and force those, if not,
+  //do nothing as it will try with last saved values automatically
   if (ssid != "") {
-    WiFi.begin(ssid.c_str(), pass.c_str());
-  } else {
-    if(WiFi.SSID()) {
-      DEBUG_WM("Using last saved values, should be faster");
-      //trying to fix connection in progress hanging
-      ETS_UART_INTR_DISABLE();
-      wifi_station_disconnect();
-      ETS_UART_INTR_ENABLE();
-
-      WiFi.begin();
-    } else {
+	resetSettings(); /*Disconnect and wipe out old values. If you don't do this
+    esp8266 will sometimes lock up when SSID or password is different to
+	the already stored values. Mostly it doesn't but occasionally it does.
+	*/
+    WiFi.begin(ssid.c_str(), pass.c_str());// Start Wifi with new values.
+  } else if(!WiFi.SSID()) {
       DEBUG_WM("No saved credentials");
-    }
   }
 
   int connRes = waitForConnectResult();
@@ -320,7 +314,7 @@ String WiFiManager::getConfigPortalSSID() {
 
 void WiFiManager::resetSettings() {
   DEBUG_WM(F("settings invalidated"));
-  DEBUG_WM(F("THIS MAY CAUSE AP NOT TO START UP PROPERLY. YOU NEED TO COMMENT IT OUT AFTER ERASING THE DATA."));
+  //DEBUG_WM(F("THIS MAY CAUSE AP NOT TO START UP PROPERLY. YOU NEED TO COMMENT IT OUT AFTER ERASING THE DATA."));
   WiFi.disconnect(true);
   //delay(200);
 }

WiFiManager.h

@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ class WiFiManager
   public:
     WiFiManager();
 
-    boolean       autoConnect();
-    boolean       autoConnect(char const *apName, char const *apPassword = NULL);
+    boolean       autoConnect(); //Deprecated. Do not use.
+    boolean       autoConnect(char const *apName, char const *apPassword = NULL); //Deprecated. Do not use.
 
     //if you want to always start the config portal, without trying to connect first
     boolean       startConfigPortal();