@sdetweil
Problem is the fact that the CONFIG message is sent from the frontend only at the loading of the page (subclassing START). If the page is still open in the browser it will send SCAN_NETWORK requests periodically which will lead to the situation where the config object is empty when the scan is to be executed, if the service has been restarted meanwhile.
Furthermore, if a reload of the page is executed, a CONFIG request is sent to NODE_HELPER which might be busy scanning and it seems as if there is no escape unless the correct sequential order for CONFIG and SCAN_NETWORK is used.
To verify:
1.) Stop loading of the page in browser or navigate to an other page so no SCAN_NETWORK will be created for the device status updates
2.) Stop + restart MM
3.) Reload page / enter start URL
This will lead to the correct order and the programmatic solution is to check if the config object is filled before executing the scan. If not, it has to be reloaded, the CONFIG request in NODE_HELPER can not be used as it uses the payload from the frontend.