Hi,
I estimated a similar behaviour after upgrading to 25.2.2: the box seemingly didn't start headless anymore., i.e. it was not reacheable remotely.
My guess is that the absence of a HDMI connected screen during boot process lead to problems initializing the network ... maybe
Connecting a monitor solved the boot problem.
So I tried the use of a HDMI dummy plug which is working fine: the box is reacheable via network as expected.
Regards,
Joe