ESP32 Forum

Hi folks, so I have successfully programmed this IC a number of times via Arduino ISP. I was playing with different sleep modes and all of a sudden, after successfully programming, the IC just resets constantly.
I have tried enabling erase all before programming, and even used esptools to attempt clearing the memory, which it appears to do.
This is what I see via serial interface

ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x7 (TG0WDT_SYS_RST),boot:0x2b (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x40043ac8
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce2820,len:0x116c
load:0x3c870040,len:0xc2cff
Invalid image block, can't boot.
ets_main.c 329

I have tried the example RGB sketch with no luck...

Can this chip be recovered? Any more checks I can attempt?

Thanks

What is the device? Are you connecting via uart or usb-cdc? Does it no longer program properly in Arduino (with a Hello World sketch)?
I will assume you are using usb-cdc, since it is almost impossible to get to this state via uart (if it does, the flash memory is damaged). Hold down the boot button (gpio0) while you connect the device to the computer. This will force it into download mode, and you should then be able to upload your new firmware.
If your firmware has issues that cause it to kernel panic within the first few milliseconds of boot, there is not enough time for the usb-cdc to establish, so you can't see what is going on, and you can't upload a new firmware. Manually setting it into download mode is the typical fix. I personally don't do development over usb-cdc for this reason.

Thanks, I am beginning to think this is a hardware issue. I have been using IDE to program C3's without issues for ages, and these were oj for a good while...

I am not amazingly technical with this platform, it's quite a jump from 8bit pic micros lol...

I used this tool to create a new partition following this turorial. Everything programs just fine but it's only when I reset then the constant booting happens with Tried using esptools in python to erase and rebuild bootrom...

The device is a barebones chip on a dev board, with neopixel and rubbish aerial...