Flashing Micropython to ESP32 Minikit(MH-ET LIVE)

Had some issues with this board and solved them so this instructable ( mini-size ) will help you saving time .

Normally flashing micropython to an ESP32 is a piece of cake but this one took me a full day :-)

ESP32 minikit AKA MH-ET LIVE

220 Ohm resistor

wire , wire wrapping

To enter flash mode GPIO 0 should be kept low during power-up . To be on the safe side I measured my other ESP32boards ( they have a boot/flash button) and found out that when the boot button is pressed GPIO 0 is tied to GND via a 220 Ohms resistor so I copied it .

Erasing flash/installing Micropython can be done via Thonny IDE or the well-known ESPTOOL.py .

Here's how :

- solder your pins or headers , the board is fragile and one-time-soldering is recommended !

- connect the 220 Ohm resistor between GPIO 0 and GND as seen on the photo

- follow intructions :click here :-)

After you installed micropython removing the resistor should give you a nice board running micropython ...

It worked but there were a few issues :

- the board did not execute main.py when disconnected from the computer ...

- pushing the reset button on the board gave this nasty message :

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x6 (DOWNLOAD_BOOT(UART0/UART1/SDIO_REI_FEO_V2))
waiting for download

- Thonny IDE spitted out many many fault messages ...

Investigation revealed that GPIO 0 should be high during power-up for normal operation .

I assumed that removing my resistor should be OK but it wasn't , a floating GPIO 0 can give unpredictable results ...

So just strap-up GPIO 0 to the 3V3 supply and you're done !

Assuming something took me a day but I hope this mini-instructable helps people saving time !

Happy Programming !

Bob