I’ve tried esptool.py erase_flash - fails in the same place.
I modded esptool to log what is happening. The 0x0a command is a read. The tools reads efuse memory locations 3,4,5 OK but fails on efuse 6.
I’ve tried to do a espefuse.py summary - and it fails in same place.
I think all the ESP tools go through a common set of reads to determine the chip, setup etc before they try to do an action as esptool is used on all ESP chips.
Tried the paperclip in the jack port. Got the message “waiting for download”. Then tried esptool.py - same error.
I need to read up some more on efuse but it “feels” like that specific efuse memory is dead and so ESP32 hangs trying to read that location. Serial port comes back to life if power off/on again and boots all the firmware.
Thanks, I’ll keep trying but it’s not high priority.