Custom ESP32 S3 board never runs code

jenschr
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:40 pm

Custom ESP32 S3 board never runs code

Postby jenschr » Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:22 pm

Hi all,
I'm making my 8th ESP32-S3 based board and I was completely stumped by a problem I've never seen. The ESP-S3-WROOM-1 based board programs, but it's not running any code and it's not outputting anything on Serial.

After a lot of troubleshooting, I hooked up a serial dongle to the Serial output and I could see that the board goes straight into download mode like this:
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x1 (POWERON),boot:0x0 (DOWNLOAD(USB/UART0))
waiting for download
It never runs any code. I searched and searched but could not find anyone with a similar problem, but wouldn't you know - it was my own fault and I'll share it here in case it can help others. I had swapped the resistor and capacitor on the boot button ( :roll: ). The resistor tied the boot button to GND, putting it into eternal BOOT mode.

Hope this helps others as it took me close to two hours until I found it :-)
Last edited by jenschr on Wed Oct 18, 2023 11:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ESP_Sprite
Posts: 9709
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2015 4:08 am

Re: Custom ESP32 S3 board never runs code

Postby ESP_Sprite » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:17 am

Note that you may want to remove the capacitor on GPIO0 entirely. Having a capacitor between GPIO0 and ground means GPIO0 will be low for a moment on power-up, meaning as soon as you apply power the ESP32C3 will boot up in download mode initially.

jenschr
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:40 pm

Re: Custom ESP32 S3 board never runs code

Postby jenschr » Wed Oct 18, 2023 11:21 pm

Thanks! That's good advice that I'll use!

and.abramchuk
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2024 2:18 pm

Re: Custom ESP32 S3 board never runs code

Postby and.abramchuk » Thu Aug 22, 2024 2:39 pm

In my case, this issue been solved only when I made two improvements:
1. Remove the capacitor on GPIO0 entirely
2. Attach external pullup resistor (5k1) on GPIO0

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