At one point I was using a cheap mp3 player that did NO sorting: the
folder playback choices were "random" or "unsorted". As a quick
workaround, I used a program to sort the FAT32 file table itself and
place the files in my preferred order. It sounds like you have the
opposite problem this time around, but given your past history that
program might be a good tool to add to your arsenal.
https://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort/