ESP32 Forum

I often use the ESP32-pico-V3-02 in various circuits and have not had any problems communicating with the device.
Now I have a circuit board with this IC, where no communication is possible at all, I tried it on 3 identical circuit boards to rule out any hardware or soldering errors. Apart from the blocking capacitors and the RC at the reset input, there are no other components that, in my opinion, can influence the start of the ESP. After applying the 3.3V supply, the ESP only consumes minimal current (approx. 1mA) and there is no life message via RX. There is a maximum of one undefined signal (PWM start?) when applying/switching off the supply.
I have made changes to the RC element of the reset pin, all without success.
Presumably the ESP won't come out of reset state, or what could be the reason for the behavior?

I'm pretty clueless
What can lead to the ESP consuming so little power and not showing any signs of life?
I always believe in my stupidity, but since I've used the part many times in different circuits, I'm at a loss.

Conspiracy theories - is the chip empty or fake?
IC-label:
ESP32-PICO-V3-02
322022
PPH43200
MNP147000
JE05PRY655

There are several pins that are "Strapping Pins" that if are not in the proper state on boot will cause it to act differently.
need to post a schematic for more help.

Do you have schematics and/or board layout you can share?

I don't know how to get a picture in here. But as I wrote before, the usual suspects are not used
IO12 = unused
IO2 = unused
EN with 10k and 1uF,
RXD = IO3, TXD = IO1

What could trigger such a behavior of the ESP? So minimal power consumption and no output of anything on serial port?