Unable to power Hiletgo ESP 32 via external power

[winterminute]

I've verified the board works when connected to USB but doesn't work when connected via 5V via VIN+GRD. I've tried two different wall adapters. 1@ 5v and 1@5.25v. I'm pretty new to all this but from what I read this should be possible but some boards do non-standard things. Any ideas what's going or what I should try?

[ESP_Sprite]

Hard to say without a board schematic... Can you find the LDO on the board and measure if it successfully takes in 5V and spits out 3.3V?