ESP32 Dev Board External Powering

[timberrock]

I have the MakerFocus ESP WROOM 32 Dev Board (with the 19 pins down l/r sides). No problems installing the libraries and getting it up and running when connected to my laptop via the micro usb cable. I have tried a gmail sender program and a GoPro remote shutter program utilizing the usb cable...connects to WiFi and works fine. However, I want to use the ESP32 away from my laptop and cannot figure it out. Applying 5v to the board will not work...led blinks but that's it,, no program execution. I also sacrificed a micro usb cable just for the pin 1&5 wires and supplied 5v...didn't work either. Surprisingly, a simple blink program to an external led seems to work powering to the 5v pin. Any advice appreciated.

P.S. These same programs work on my ESP8266 ESP-01 and ESP-07 remotely.

[tolo69]

Did you try pulling down the RESET-pin after 5V power up ?