ESP32 - DFROBOT Firebeetle 2 ESP32-C6 - boot loop

[iisfaq]

I have a bare bones DFROBOT FIRE BEETLE ESP32-C6 that seems to go into a boot loop

Rebooting...
ESP-ROM:esp32c6-20220919
Build:Sep 19 2022
rst:0xc (SW_CPU),boot:0xc (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4001975a
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x4086c410,len:0xc24
load:0x4086e610,len:0x2708

Then it displays a stack memory dump

I have tried to erase the flash memory using python

esptool.py v4.8.1
Serial port COM4
Connecting...
Detecting chip type... ESP32-C6
Chip is ESP32-C6FH4 (QFN32) (revision v0.0)
Features: WiFi 6, BT 5, IEEE802.15.4
Crystal is 40MHz
MAC: 54:32:04:ff:fe:0b:59:ac
BASE MAC: 54:32:04:0b:59:ac
MAC_EXT: ff:fe
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Erasing flash (this may take a while)...
Chip erase completed successfully in 15.1s
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

There are no components plugged into the board expect USB cable.

The code I am running opens the serial port and uses ESPNOW, nothing else.

Bit lost on this - it is a firmware, hardware failure?

Issue is the same if USB Cable plugged into laptop or docking station.

Could it be power related? If so how would I develop against this board. This board use to work without issue.

I have installed the latest 3.1.2 firmware for Espressif and am now just trying to use 3.0.0 to see if that makes a difference.

Is there a tool to factory reset other than esptool.py?

[iisfaq]

I have gone back to the blink sketch and I see that it works.
But the ascii table example which writes to the serial port does not work. No output.
But it programs the device on the same serial port so it must be working?

This is all very odd.

I have even tried the same on another device (same model) and it also fails for me.

Getting board info I see this which is odd - it is not an ESP32-S3

BN: u-blox NORA-W10 series (ESP32-S3)
VID: 0x303A
PID: 0x1001
SN: (null)

Maybe my arduino setup is corrupted?

[lbernstone]

Board info is meaningless. If it accepts your code on upload, it knows what device you have.
Serial on cheap esp32-cX clones is not a uart adapter, it is a USB_CDC device. Libraries that are expecting serial through a physical adapter may not work like this. Stack dumps during boot are usually related to hardware initialization. Since you have included no code or output, it is not possible to troubleshoot any more than that.
I don't really consider a esp32 without a uart adapter to be appropriate for base level development, since you often cannot capture the errors occurring during a boot loop.

[iisfaq]

I decided to try out ESP-IDF and my device works fine there. So something to do with the Arduino IDE/Code?

Chris