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ESP32 WROOM and ESP32 CAM fail to show up when connected to USB

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(@hurrikane)
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Joined: 6 years ago
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I just started to work with, or rather tried to work with ESP 32s. I have 2 ESP32 CAM boards and neither will show up on the tools menu when connected to the USB adapter board and a USB cable to my workstation. I also have an ESP32 WROOM dev board and it has a USB micro connector, but exhibits the exact same problem. Namely when I plug it into the USP port it doesn't show up in the tools menu. I have never seen this with Arduino UNOs, Nanos or MEGAs or for that matter any other USB devices. Has anyone seen this phenomenon? Without the board being recognized, there is no way to go further.Help!


   
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robotBuilder
(@robotbuilder)
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
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@hurrikane Hi, yes I had and still do have to some degree the same problem. First of all what OS are you using?

If windows, you need some drivers, and maybe even for Mac users like me. The nerds are a good starting point but I didn't notice anything about installing drivers.

Are you using the esp32 naked or with a MB (see pic). Also, do you know to hold down the BOOT button if your boards have one? press when you see connecting and release when you see the % write messages start.

I have a dozen esp32cam boards and have found a few bad ones. If you have further questions, give me a shout by starting your post with @zander

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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(@hurrikane)
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@zander Ron, Thanks for the reply, and yes, I checked in device manager, and I do have the latest drivers installed for USB. I've never had a connection problem with any devices other than these. The PC doesn't even recognize a USB device is out there so the boot button and anything else is moot, as I simply can't communicate with the ESP. On the ESP WROOM, I am connecting with the on-board USB Micro connector, and I was using the adapter board with the ESP CAMs when this problem came up. I then tried using an FTDI adapter on the CAMs and while that does get recognized in the tool menu, it still fails to upload, says the port is busy or not available, and I have no other USB devices attached at that time.


   
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(@tedbear)
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I have a collection of various ESP 32 boards.  Mostly they use the ESP 32 Dev Module choice although my ESP CAM boards need the AI thinker choice. I use the Arduino IDE modified to work with ESP 32s.  I am using it on two different Windows 11 computers.  Sometimes it seems that the IDE does not seem to recognize a board/Com port combination.  This often happens when I program one board and then switch to another to load the same or a different sketch.  I find that going to Device Manager and looking under the Ports (Com and LPT) section can be very helpful.  This helps confirm which port my board is connecting to if at all.  I can then change the board choice and com port if necessary.  One time nothing was showing up in the device manager and I discovered a bad USB cable.  I have found this to be a reliable way to get my thinking straight. Somehow I missed this really easy step in my self training. 


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
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@hurrikane I assume with the FTDI you had the BOOT jumper installed.

Let's ONLY talk about ESP32CAM. The naked board needs an FTDI. You must select 5V on the FTDI, maybe show me a clear picture of the FTDI and ESP32CAM so I can trace the wires. If you change the IDE to show the Serial monitor then plug in the BOOT jumper you should get a message about ready to upload. If that does not show there is a wiring error or bad board.

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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(@hurrikane)
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Topic starter  

@zander I've tried both the ESP32 CAM adapter board with the USB Micro socket, and alternatively, an external FTDI board. The former simply doesn't exist on the IDE tools drop-down, and while the FTDI does show up on the drop-down, it fails to communicate with the esp32 CAM on upload, says the port does not exist or is busy. As to my ESP32 WROOM boards (I have 2), these also completely fail to be recognized as USB devices at all. I can push buttons on these in any order hold down reset, press boot, release boot, etc. etc. but nothing I do has these boards recognized as existing on the Arduino IDE tools drop-down. This problem exists on a Win 10 laptop (IDE 1.8), a Win 11 Laptop, a Win 11 desktop, (both IDE 2.3.4), an Ubuntu Laptop (IDE 2.3.4), and a Raspberry Pi 4 (IDE 1,8). All exactly the same, no recognition of the boards! I'm getting pretty fed up with this situation as I seem to be the only one experiencing this. I have no problems with an Arduino R4 which has an ESP32, albeit as a WiFi processor, and I also get good results with an ACEBott ESP32 MAX dev board (an Arduino UNO form factor development board). These boards work fine. I just uploaded a network scanner to the ESP32 MAX and if they are powered, both the ESP32 CAM and WROOM boards show up on the network scan list. So, both board's WiFi sections are alive, but the boards do not show up as USB devices on the tools drop down. They're getting powered thru the USB cables but are a no show on the tools menu. This is exasperating! What am I missing here? It seems other posts have problems with the camera and other issues, but all these folks are apparently able to get their board recognized by the IDE and are able to upload, I can't seem to get there.

Today I even tried to get this working under VS Code/Platform IO, but alas, this is worse, as I'm not able to find ESP32 CAM in the Platform IO boards selection and while the Espressif ESP32 CAMERA shows up in the library selection, one cannot load a library without specifying a project in this environment, and I cannot create a project to specify without selecting a board which I can't do since no board shows up! A catch 22. HELP!


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 8046
 

@hurrikane Ok, something is amiss. First, send clear photos of the boards you want to work with that are not working.

Next let's get on a standard language. 

I have no idea what you mean by

ESP32 CAM adapter board with the USB Micro socket

do you mean the ESP32CAM-MB programmer board that a naked esp32CAM fits into so you can use USB and have 1 or 2 buttons (BOOT and RESET (may also have other names))

I have never seen the following

FTDI does show up on the drop-down

Let's take this one step at a time, first the pictures.

 

 

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
Father of a miniature Wookie
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 8046
 

@hurrikane Tell me if anything I show you here is different.

With NO board attached to my laptop, I can select the common AI Thinker esp32cam board. It looks like the first pic.

If I then attach a data + power USB cable I will see a serial port appear in the ports listing (I have 2 on my Mac for some reason) second pic.

Can you do those steps?

EDIT forgot to include the board pics

 

 

Screenshot 2025 01 24 at 14.40.42
Screenshot 2025 01 24 at 14.44.44
IMG 9296
IMG 9295
This post was modified 3 weeks ago by Ron

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
Father of a miniature Wookie
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 8046
 

Now to upload with an FTDI. The board is UNCHANGED, the port is different (pic 1) because my FTSI uses the FT232FL USB-UART chip rather than the CH340C the programmer MB uses. I attached a FTDI wiring pic, 2 power (red & black) BOOT enable (white) and the TX/RX Blue and Green.

Screenshot 2025 01 24 at 14.55.49
IMG 9297

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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(@aliarifat)
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Posts: 53
 

Posted by: @hurrikane

I just started to work with, or rather tried to work with ESP 32s. I have 2 ESP32 CAM boards and neither will show up on the tools menu when connected to the USB adapter board and a USB cable to my workstation. I also have an ESP32 WROOM dev board and it has a USB micro connector, but exhibits the exact same problem. Namely when I plug it into the USP port it doesn't show up in the tools menu. I have never seen this with Arduino UNOs, Nanos or MEGAs or for that matter any other USB devices. Has anyone seen this phenomenon? Without the board being recognized, there is no way to go further.Help!

You need to install the boards.

  • Go to File > preferences, type https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json and click OK
  • Go to Tools>Board>Boards Manager and install the ESP32 boards. 
  • For ESP32-CAM download the ESP32-CAM library from Github (the link is given here https://github.com/yoursunny/esp32cam ). Then install it by following the path sketch>include library> add.zip library. 
  • You also need to select the proper board. For ESP32-WROOM you need to select ESP32-WROOM, For ESP32-CAM, you need to select Ai-thinker ESP32 CAM. You can follow the following tutorials for more help. By the way, the problem may happen due to a bad cable also. Try with another cable.

https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Capture_photos_with_esp32_cam_SD_card_with_motion_detection_89bd7727.html  

https://samueladesola.medium.com/how-to-set-up-esp32-wroom-32-b2100060470c

 


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
Father of a miniature Wookie
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 8046
 

@aliarifat OMG, where to start, so much erroneous info.

There are two errors there, first of all you can't just start typing after selecting preferences, you need to first open the Additional Boards Manager URLs box.

The second thing is it's not the official URL which is https://espressif.github.io/arduino-esp32/package_esp32_index.json

I will be surprised if the OP has not already done that. (he did as you will see)

Next we have

  • Go to Tools>Board>Boards Manager and install the ESP32 boards. 

That part is correct, but quicker is to just click the Board Manager on the left edge of the screen. See pic 1

Next we have 

For ESP32-CAM download the ESP32-CAM library from Github (the link is given here  https://github.com/yoursunny/esp32cam <). Then install it by following the path sketch>include library> add.zip library.

I have been working with esp32cam for many years and have never downloaded that library. It may be of use, but to start it is not needed.

Next we have

  • You also need to select the proper board. For ESP32-WROOM you need to select ESP32-WROOM, For ESP32-CAM, you need to select Ai-thinker ESP32 CAM. You can follow the following tutorials for more help. By the way, the problem may happen due to a bad cable also. Try with another cable.

I am a little unclear what you are saying, but my hunch is that in the sketch you need to uncomment the line that enables that specific board as in AI-thinker. There is no ESP32-WROOM selection. See pic 2

The 'normal' way to make use of the ESP32CAM is to use the sample provided by the esp32 board library. See pic 3

This is not the only approach, but since the OP is new, this is the approach the randomnerds teach who we always refer new esp32 users to.

@robotbuilder gave instructions re randomnerds in post Post LINK  

In post  Post LINK the OP tells us  

I then tried using an FTDI adapter on the CAMs and while that does get recognized in the tool menu, it still fails to upload, says the port is busy or not available

which clearly indicates he has successfully installed the boards. What he is having trouble with is the USB to UART connection (may be still missing a driver depending on if it's FTDI (driver seems installed as it is builtin) or CH340G in the case of no BOOT button (I don't know if Windows pre-installs those drivers) or CH340C which does have a BOOT button)

Sorry, but if your post is left as is then future new members could get the wrong information. If you had checked Bills (@dronebot-workshop) videos/blogs you would have seen the  VIDEO  and  Article . The article has the exact same instructions re the sample sketch only in words where I just described it in a picture. Also, Bill uses a different esp32 boards URL, the one I pointed out is from official Espressif documentation, there are many copies around but not all reliable or complete. 

Screenshot 2025 01 27 at 11.18.39
Screenshot 2025 01 27 at 11.25.35
Screenshot 2025 01 27 at 11.34.24

 

 

 

 

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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(@hurrikane)
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Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 12
Topic starter  

@zander Well I took off a few days to sail and clear my head, but I'm back. Still having the exact same problem. I just got a Seeduino XIAO Sense board with camera, and the exact same problem persists! None of these boards show up on the tools dropdown PORTs selection at all, They are completely invisible, so although I have the latest boards manager for ESP32, and have no trouble selecting the board in the IDE, this is all completely moot as the system(s) do not poll these devices and show them in the Serial ports list at all, see snagit 2.

ESP32Boards2
IDEToolsMenu

 

As you can see I have the same boards you show in your posts. I have no problems with the IDE boards manager, or selecting the boards or setting the PSRAM etc., and the camera web server code compiles fine, but all this is meaningless if the system doesn't recognize that a board is connected to USB! I cannot upload anything to a board my computer says isn't there. I can select the appropriate board, either AI Thinker ESP32-CAM for that board, and XIAO_ESP32S3 for the XIAO, but nothing shows in the tools menu under ports when these are connected. This as I said occurs on 5 different computers with 4 different operating systems! I even made sure I have the latest (V3) boards managers on all since the XIAO doesn't show up in V2, but despite going thru Bill's videos (again) I can't seem to get past this hurdle. As you can see in the boards photo they are shown on a static disipative mat and I use a wrist strap when handling all my boards, habits formed after 35 years in the industry, so I doubt I've managed to blow up 5 boards. I know something is missing here, but I cannot see what it is!

I wanted to use these camera modules to build a point of view camera to ride around my model RR layout and give an "inside the cab" view of the layout. Being N Scale this is tricky since 1:160 makes tunnels and the like too small for most cameras. I do have a camera that's about a 1" cube with a micro SD, and I have successfully managed to get video off it, but the camera is very poor quality and this the XIAOs ability to upgrade to a better resolution camera was intriguing, but since I can't get any of these running, I will have to go back to my Raspberry Pi Zero which is much larger than the XIAO, but it works. I'm very unhappy with this situation. I wanted to work with the ESP32s but my computers tell me they're not there. I can upload to my Arduino R4 which has an ESP32, and also to an Acebott MAX ESP32 board that's a UNO form factor, but none of these other ESPs show up. I'm baffled.


   
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Ron
 Ron
(@zander)
Father of a miniature Wookie
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 8046
 

@hurrikane First order of business, where are you that the weather is still sailing weather. What is your boat. I used to be 1st mate on my buddies boats (now passed) starting out on 17ft Siren day sailer, then O'Day 25 and finally a Bayfield 29 Cutter rig.

As to your problem, you have given me the clues we need. The fact that some boards work and some don't means it's a driver missing issue. The USB driver is missing for the UART/USB chip the cameras use. Why windows didn't do an automatic driver install is beyond me.

IMPORTANT NOTE to all newish members. Whenever you have an issue with an ESP32 or ESP8266 ALWAYS check the website https://randomnerdtutorials.com

For this problem the applicable section is https://randomnerdtutorials.com/upload-code-esp32-cam-mb-usb/

For general trouble shooting esp32cam issues goto https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-cam-troubleshooting-guide/

The manufacturers link for Windows is Win  for other OS the links are below the wide Download blue bar.

Let me know if you need help.

 

This post was modified 2 weeks ago by Ron

First computer 1959. Retired from my own computer company 2004.
Hardware - Expert in 1401, 360, fairly knowledge in PC plus numerous MPU's & MCU's
Major Languages - Machine language, 360 Macro Assembler, Intel Assembler, PL/I and PL1, Pascal, Basic, C plus numerous job control and scripting languages.
My personal scorecard is now 1 PC hardware fix (circa 1982), 1 open source fix (at age 82), and 2 zero day bugs in a major OS.


   
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(@hurrikane)
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Joined: 6 years ago
Posts: 12
Topic starter  

@zander First order of business, I live in Ventura, CA, and while the weather has been cool (for us) with temps in the 60s, after the Santa Ana offshore winds that exacerbated the fires diminished and switched to onshore, it was quite pleasant sailing. I went to Prisoners harbor, an anchorage on Santa Cruz island for an overnight. The boat I skippered is a Catalina 380 sloop. I belong to a Yacht club that's unique in that we own the boats, and I have access to 20 sailboats from 14' to 40' ( a Catalina 400). We essentially have year round sailing conditions here except for those pesky Santa Ana winds. On the upside, offshore winds kill the swell, so for a while after, we have flat seas and with flat seas and 10-15 knot wind, it's extremely pleasant sailing.

As to my ESP32 woes, I went to the random nerd site and followed all the instructions, although I've already successfully installed the latest boards manager and am able to select my boards from that insanely long unalphabetized (why?) boards list. I updated my drivers, and I realized I hadn't restarted this PC in a while, I use 'sleep' for a faster boot. So I restarted after driver update, and still the problems persists!

I then re-tried the FTDI hookup, wired exactly as randomnerd shows and the upload starts, with the LED on the FTDI board happily blinking showing it is in fact receiving serial data, but alas it then shows:

A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP32: No serial data received.

Ron, I give up! Life is much too short for me to waste any more time on this. Since the problem persists on 5 different machines over 4 different operating systems I no longer care to mess with it. I have placed my 5 ESP32 boards in a Static shielding bag and put them up on a shelf perhaps never to be seen again. I've wasted over $50 on these things and I'm not spending any more money or time on them.

Thanks for all the help Ron, but having wasted now 2 weeks trying to cure a problem that apparently no one else has, I'm done. While I usually like puzzles, the lunacy of doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result is, I believe Einstein's definition of insanity. This one has me beat, I surrender! Back to working Arduino boards and sailing! Sadly, this is the first time DroneBot Workshop has not helped me understand and fix a problem. This one will haunt me for a while.

 


   
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