ESP32 Forum

Hi!
I have made the mistake of designing a PCB where mostly io 6 but io 11 is used. Today I discovered that my code crashes for obvious reasons and after looking at the datasheet:

Pins CMD/IO11 and CLK/IO6 are used for connecting the embedded flash, and are not recommended for other uses.

Does that "not recommended" mean I'm screwed or is there a way to utilize the pins?
If they can't be used would the connected GPS module (RX to io6, timepulse signal to io11) interfere with the flash and cause resets?

ps: Why aren't these embedded flash pins just marked with nc in the datasheet? There is no way to connect external psram so whats the purpose of breaking them out if people shouldn't use them?

Thanks for any information!

Yes, that'll screw up the operation of the ESP32... the pins are not marked as N/C because there is a possibility to use them as a 3rd SPI bus (with a separate CS from the internal flash).

Well, thankfully these traces are on the outside layer so I will cut them for a temporary fix.
Thanks making things clear for me!