ESP32-S3 flashing mainboard / Test Fixture

[username]

I cannot locate any test fixtures out there to program ESP32-S3 modules. Like these:

Capture.PNG (248.39 KiB) Viewed 1722 times

Espressif even has these but NOT for the ESP32-S3:
https://www.espressif.com/en/products/e ... t/overview

The main problem for us is even though the S3 has USB, its not recognized as a USB device until there is code flashed onto the module via tx & rx pins first. So once a factory module is soldered onto the main PCB you cannot flash it via USB.
So the only recourse is to add a programming header to the PCB, which is a total waste of money to use it once.

[ESP_Sprite]

The main problem for us is even though the S3 has USB, its not recognized as a USB device until there is code flashed onto the module via tx & rx pins first. So once a factory module is soldered onto the main PCB you cannot flash it via USB.
So the only recourse is to add a programming header to the PCB, which is a total waste of money to use it once.

This is not quite true. On an empty flash and in normal boot mode, the ESP32-S3 will time out after a few seconds, which resets the chip. You can either try to 'catch' it in between resets (as starting the flash process stops the reboot loop), or you can make GPIO0 low while booting, which places it in download mode which stops the reset loop from happening.

[username]

Ok, we will give the GPIO0 a try. Thanks for the tip, and hopefully that works. Still though, a test rig would be a great tool to have for the S3.