Hi Stephen
Yes it is normal for the flashing of the white LED as the ESP32 boots up.
DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1 sounds like a very strange board definition, further down the list you will find
ESP32 AI Thinker Cam
That is the one I use, and I think it is the correct choice for the ESP32 AI Thinker Cam board.
These are the board settings I use
John
Evening John:
It’s not the tiny indicator LED, I mean the large LED that flashes to illuminate for picture taking. It comes on when I press the RES button, though not very brightly.
I have the same Tools Dropdown settings you show.
I have been using the AI Thinker Cam definition for the ESP32 CAM - which did not upload.
I used the DOIT …definition on the standard ESP32 board just to check my upload capability with Arduino - which uploaded OK.
Stephen.
Try different USB cables. I find that only half my USB cables work for some reason.
Hi Patrick, I’ve used a couple of cables, both workrd ok with other boards.
Stephen
Hi Stephen
On reset the big LED flash comes on reasonably dimly as you press it & about a second after you release it it flashes about 3-4 times very quickly & brightly. The flashing is so fast, I can’t really accurately count the number of flashes. This is of course the reset, after your code has been uploaded.
Apart from Patrick’s suggestion to try a different USB cable, I’m really running out of ideas.
The additional boards manager I’m using is
https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json => ESP32 espressif systems version 1.0.6
but I’m sure your using this too.
Last thing to check is that nothing else on your system is also trying to use the same com’s port.
When using OTA you need to use a third party serial monitor [I use Tera Term].
Sometimes when I swap back from the OTA virtual WiFi port to the wired serial port, the upload fails because I have forgotten to disconnect Terra Term from this wired com port.
Perhaps you have a DoA unit - but you also appear to have two - which would be very strange!
Agreed!
Thanks John, you’ve put much time into this.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for spending some time troubleshooting!
It definitely does sound like the ESP-CAMs are DOA, I’ve sent through an email to hopefully keep your project on track.
We’ll test some stock of the ESP-CAM boards to make sure that this doesn’t happen again!
Liam
Hi All,
I’ve resurrected a redundant HP Laptop with a new Win10 and installed the latest version of Arduino.
One of my fears was that my old Dell XPS was not up to the task but it is an i5 with strong specs and does everything else well. The other fear is that I’ve made some dumb simple mistake and wasted everyone’s time, but I truly believe I’ve followed all the instructions, yet to no avail.
Thanks everyone for all your time and effort.
Stephen.
Hi Patrick.
Could be “charge only” cables, the data wires are not even in there, only + and -.
Cheers Bob
Hi Stephen, I generally steer clear of ESP boards without USB, because of the button pressing when you are about to upload. As I remember the sequence was:
Press and hold EN button (which I think is GPIO0)
Press and Release RST
Release EN when you see esptool.py trying to communicate (doing it’s dots and dashes).
I’d try a pushbutton on GPIO0, or at least disconnecting any jumper etc. you have on GPIO0, when esptool starts.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Diverging from the main topic a bit…
I recently picked up the ESP-PROG which handles all of the auto-reset circuitry as well, if you’re into developing something on the ESP32, Id definitely recommend getting one!
Hello Dave,
Thanks for the suggestion. I had tried that procedure earlier after finding a youtuber who described it.
This time I brought the RES pin of the ESP32 out so I could connect a momentary switch on a breadboard, and also another switch between IO 0 - GND.
Did exactly as you said AND every other combination I could think of, with both the ESP32 CAM and the Wrover modules on the IDE…
but still no luck.
I’m looking at Sparkfun or Adafruit for ESP and Camera combinations, they seem to have heaps of support. Assembled in the US so maybe the boards have been tested before leaving the factory ???
Thanks for your time Dave,
Kind regards,
Stephen
Thanks Liam,
Just looked a the price… but it does include JTAG and debug port.
May have to get one some time just to make life easier 
Bought one of these ESP32-CAM boards a couple of months ago. Planning to investigate its capabilities ‘one day’. Today was that day. Experienced exactly what @Stephen25652 described.
Using a Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2.1. The Pololu has two comm ports, COM5 & COM6. It did not work on COM6, the port I would normally use, so eventually switched to COM5.
Initially it did not load quoting a header byte error. At least it was getting past the connecting stage. As per a number of forums, I was pressing the reset button when the connecting dots appeared. The Arduino COM window was open and GPIO0 connected to ground. When the reset button was pressed, a message appeared stating waiting for download. See pic below.
The next try I did not press the button and let it do its stuff, the code loaded ok. I have successfully duplicated this a number of times now.
I don’t know if this will be the solution for @Stephen25652 , but it was getting extremely frustrating trying to get it to work today. When all I had wrong was the COM port and misinformation as to how to use the RST button. Finding a schematic for the board was a bonus, it was easy to see how the bits connected together. See pic below.
The bright LED on the front lights dimly when the RST button is pressed. Normal operation in my opinion. When the code was loaded it was extremely bright. The red LED on the back can also be used to indicate things. GPIO 33 & GPIO 4. See code below.
Hope some of this is of use …
Cheers
Jim
EDIT: ESP32 is powered by separate 5V supply, the programmer kept resetting when using it 5V.
//LED BUILT_IN is GPIO 33
//Bright LED is GPIO 4
void setup() {
pinMode(33, OUTPUT); // Set the pin as output
pinMode(4, OUTPUT); // Set the pin as output
}
// Remember that the pin work with inverted logic
// LOW to Turn on and HIGH to turn off
void loop() {
digitalWrite(33, LOW); //Turn on
digitalWrite(4, LOW); //Turn on
delay (1000); //Wait 1 sec
digitalWrite(33, HIGH); //Turn off
digitalWrite(4, HIGH); //Turn off
delay (1000); //Wait 1 sec
}
Hi Jim, thanks for your time.
I havn’t had experience with programming boards without usb connections so I bought the DFRobot FDTI board to match the DFRobot Cam board thinking they should have a great relationship.
DFR0065 - FTDI Basic Breakout 3.3/5V (Arduino Compatible)
DFR0602 - ESP32-CAM Development Board
The FTDI brings up only one COM Port which Arduino detects automatically, I can see the Tx led attempting to send about every two seconds till the “fatal error” message appears. Pressing RST in any sequence makes no difference.
CE is sending two replacement boards which I will test asap.
Kind regards,
Stephen
I was following this thread with interest due having a ESP32 CAM and had not confirmed it worked. So when I experienced the same symptoms as you, I wondered if I had a bad one too. And maybe they were all bad.
Good that they are sending you new ones, not good experience when you have done everything you think you should to make it work and it just wont.
Hope the new ones work.
Cheers
Jim
Thanks for your support Jim,
Maybe it’s a Chinese plot to distract us from what’s happening in the Solomons ???
I cannot fault Core Elec service though.
New boards didn’t come today, maybe Tuesday.
I’ll keep in touch…
Stephen.
Hello Liam.
I have just now been able to test the replacement boards you sent me.
Connected and proceeded exactly as you advised earlier with Fatal Error.
Connected normally using AI Thinker module parameters, still with Fatal Error.
Have you any new ideas?
Stephen.
Hi Stephen,
Would it be possible to send through the error you are receiving or is it the same as before?
A quick step to confirm that the modules should be programmable are:
Would it be possible to send through some photos of your setup-
The ESP modules are extremely finicky creatures, especially the modules without inbuilt USB support.
Hopefully the simplified flowchart below can shed some light as to why it might not be programming
Liam
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