Help diagnosing ESP32-S3 Feather... | adafruit | Page 1

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 6:11 PM

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I have an ESP32-s3 board, 4MB/2Mb (part #5477), and I am suspecting that something died on it.

When I power it up, the Neo does not "swirl".

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I tried the Factory Reset, and that did not help.

I then tried the WebSerial ESPTool to update the bootloader. It freezes at "Stub running....".

Anything else I should try?

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 7:44 PM

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pearl bay I tried the Factory Reset, and that did not help. I then tried the WebSerial ES...

so you put it in ROM bootloader mode? (Held down BOOT and clicked RESET)?

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is this fresh out of the bag?

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was it working before?

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 7:51 PM

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Yes, I tried to update it. It was fresh out of the bag, but a couple of years old.

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I just ordered five more, so I don't think this will hold me up, but it would be nice to sort out what happened.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 7:54 PM

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pearl bay Yes, I tried to update it. It was fresh out of the bag, but a couple of years o...

would you feel comfortable running esptool.py on the command line? What's your host OS?

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 7:55 PM

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I am on Windows 11. Be happy to try. Have a USB cable in front of me, and I am not afraid to use it.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 7:55 PM

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do you have python installed? You can do pip3 install esptool or maybe pip install esptool

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 7:56 PM

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Python 3.11 up and running.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 7:58 PM

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let's just make sure the bottom of the board says ESP32-S3 and 4MB flash / 2 MB PSRAM

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 7:58 PM

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"pip install esptool" is running.

Confirmed 4/2

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 8:00 PM

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ok, open Device Manager -> Ports, and put it into rom bootloader mode by holding down the BOOT button and clicking RESET. Use the COMnn port that appears in Device Manager in a line like this:

C:\> esptool.py -p COMnn chip_id
esptool.py v4.8.1
Serial port COMnn
Connecting...
Detecting chip type... ESP32-S3
Chip is ESP32-S3 (QFN56) (revision v0.1)
Features: WiFi, BLE, Embedded Flash 4MB (XMC), Embedded PSRAM 2MB (AP_3v3)
Crystal is 40MHz
MAC: f4:12:fa:59:fd:00
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Warning: ESP32-S3 has no Chip ID. Reading MAC instead.
MAC: f4:12:fa:59:fd:00
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

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(I am on Linux at the moment so I edited my output to match what I think you should see.)

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paste what you do see, assuming it gets stuck

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 8:04 PM

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working it...

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Dan, thanks for taking the time.... still workin it.....

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 8:28 PM

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I have updated python to 3.13

I ran the pip install command, but I think I have PATH problems.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 8:32 PM

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looking at my windows python install ...

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 8:37 PM

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pearl bay I have updated python to 3.13 I ran the pip install command, but I think I have...

try just esptool instead of esptool.py

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my path to esptool is "C:\Users\halbe\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Scripts\esptool.exe"

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C:\Users\halbe\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Scripts\ is in my PATH

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 8:51 PM

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re-installing python cleanly

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OK.... python responding correctly, now

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:10 PM

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pulling hair out

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:11 PM

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just say what's happening. do you have any other boards, btw?

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:11 PM

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I have a directory of " Directory of c:\Users\Spencer Webb\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python313\site-packages\esptool"

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But there is no esptool.py

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:11 PM

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that's ok, it's esptool.exe on windows

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and the executable is in a different place, see my post above at 4:37pm

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so that place should be on your PATH

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:12 PM

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Looking

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:12 PM

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(this is why we made the web interface!)

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you can search for "env" with Windows Search and find the Environment Var dialog boxes

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try exiting from the terminal window and opening a new terminal window. The PATH may have been edited since you opened the terminal window, if it you opened it before python or pip was installed

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:16 PM

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ESPTOOL is found. I think closing and opening the term window was important.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:16 PM

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btw, I sent you a DM on an unrelated matter

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:17 PM

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esptool v5.1.0
Connected to ESP32-S3 on COM20:
Chip type:          ESP32-S3 (QFN56) (revision v0.1)
Features:           Wi-Fi, BT 5 (LE), Dual Core + LP Core, 240MHz, Embedded Flash 4MB (XMC), Embedded PSRAM 2MB (AP_3v3)
Crystal frequency:  40MHz
USB mode:           USB-Serial/JTAG
MAC:                f4:12:fa:97:e2:dc

Stub flasher running.

Warning: ESP32-S3 has no chip ID. Reading MAC address instead.
MAC:                f4:12:fa:97:e2:dc

Hard resetting via RTS pin...

C:\Users\Spencer Webb>

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:18 PM

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that looks absolutely fine. now try esptool -p COM20 erase_flash

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:23 PM

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ok...

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Hard resetting via RTS pin...```

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:25 PM

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this all looks good. You should be able to load the bootloader and CircuitPython.

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:26 PM

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OK... trying that.

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Thank you so much for all the hand-holding!

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:31 PM

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circle back if trouble. I have to leave in about 15 minutes

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:32 PM

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OK.... WebSerial ESPTool is running, and still stops at "Stub running..."

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:34 PM

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it could be bad flash. Try the OPEN INSTALLER button here: https://circuitpython.org/board/adafruit_feather_esp32s3_4mbflash_2mbpsram/. It will guide you through an erase, flashing the UF2 bootloader, and loading CircuitPython.

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also make sure Chrome is up to date. There was a bug several weeks ago that broke things.

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New guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/using-open-installer-on-circuitpython-org, easier than https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-esp32-s3-feather/factory-reset

pearl bay Sep 26, 2025, 9:36 PM

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Dan, you're awesome. I am going to take a break and attack this in the AM.

mystic grotto Sep 26, 2025, 9:36 PM

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let me know!

pearl bay Sep 29, 2025, 4:55 PM

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New boards came in and I brought one of them up in my setup. Worked fine. So, failure board set aside for now.

#Help diagnosing ESP32-S3 Feather...