ESP32 EN pin pulled down

[Avro Biswas]

The capacitor is faulty!

The 1µF capacitor between the EN (enable) pin and GND (ground) is defective. Initially, it shows high resistance, but eventually shorts to ground. If you have a capacitor that handles contact debouncing, inspect it carefully. If possible, remove it and see if the ESP boots up normally.

[Sprite]

That'd do it. Fyi, it means the board probably had some mechanical trauma, causing the ceramic capacitor to crack. If the layers of conductive and non-conductive material then aligns up just right, both sides will be connected and the capacitor will short out.