Booting without pressing any buttons

[Bromium]

Apologies if I am asking a very basic question. I am using the Arduino IDE and when uploading code to an Espduino, the module auto boots and loads the code without hitting the boot button.

My code is very large and takes a while to compile and link. On a Devkit, I have to wait and hit the boot and reset buttons exactly when the IDE starts the upload. IDE gives you 5 seconds to do that. I cannot wait for 10 minutes for the compile, and be ready to hit the Devkit's boot and reset buttons just in time for the upload.

At other times, I have remote desktop access to the PC that is connected to the ESP32, but I am not physically present to hit the buttons. How do I upload?

How do I tell Devkit (and other such modules) to auto-boot, not wait for buttons to be pressed, and not reject the upload?

Thanks.
Bromium

[ESP_Sprite]

It depends on the devkit (and it would be helpful if you could be more specific wrt which one you're using), but in general those have a little auto-reset circuit that enables this. Sometimes those don't work properly on some computers/OSses; in that case adding an 10u resistor capacitor between the EN/RESET pin and ground sometimes works. Btw, 10 minutes compile time is ridiculously long: unless you're using an ancient computer for this, I'd investigate if there's something (anti-virus?) interfering with the compile process.

[Bromium]

Thank you so much for your reply. It is very helpful.

1- How do I tell which module I am using? I just guess that it is a DevKit. I really do not know. It is a WROOM-32 with one micro USB and two buttons. It has 38 pins. The markings fit a terminal board that says ESP32/V4 Goouuu.

2- Do I need to enable this auto-reset circuit?

3- By 10u do you mean 10K or 10M?

4- Could you tell me which boards shall I try on the IDE, if it is not a DevKit?

Bromium

[ESP_Sprite]

Thank you so much for your reply. It is very helpful.

1- How do I tell which module I am using? I just guess that it is a DevKit. I really do not know. It is a WROOM-32 with one micro USB and two buttons. It has 38 pins. The markings fit a terminal board that says ESP32/V4 Goouuu.

2- Do I need to enable this auto-reset circuit?

3- By 10u do you mean 10K or 10M?

4- Could you tell me which boards shall I try on the IDE, if it is not a DevKit?

Bromium

You can post a pic, and we can probably see if it'd a proper Devkit-C or a clone. You shouldn't need to enable any auto-reset circuit, the deal is that it does its thing automatically And sorry, I mistakenly put 'resistor' there, I meant an 10uF capacitor.

[Bromium]

I will try these and get back to you. Also I have some non-CH340 dev modules that Arduino IDE does not recognize either of their USB ports. Thanks.

[Great_Plunger]

First of all, can you save binary file after compilation? Secondly, as example, once we used a programming connector with 10u capacitor and near 1M resistor between one pin and GND, it is possible that something also was on EN pin. This pin connected to strapping each time when connector was attaching to board and power applied. It was enough to booting.