ESP32 Thing "ESPCOMM_SYNC FAILED"

Giving up on getting the driver to load to my unused Sparkfun ESP32 Thing I moved from my older OSX machine to a newer one running Catalina. Adding - https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

, https://dl.expressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

to my Arduino IDE I went to the Boards Manager and under Contributed searched for Spark. The closest thing was the SparkFun ESP8286 Boards and loaded it. On this machine, it loaded the serial driver.

First load of an example sketch resulted in the “ESPCOMM_SYNC failed”. Searching online it appears that there is a problem with USB to serial and the SparkFun ESP8286 is listed as without a USB to serial converter. But I have a 32S. Going back through the Board Manager, I find nothing from SparkFun re: ESP32.

What is the proper board/library to use?

Try using this JSON file to search in ALL for board definitions for the SFE ESP32 Thing:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spark … index.json

Thank you for your pointer. It’s valid, but I went a more circuitous route. The ESP32 Hookup Guide lists the easiest way using the Arduino prefs (which didn’t work for me) and the harder way which is perhaps the route I ended up taking.

I started browsing the SparkFun repository on Github https://github.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards where I can see the ESP32 Thing explicitly linked (which is the product link). Undaunted I followed the Espressif link on this page. Nothing explicit about Thing, but driving up a level I find the link for OSX instructions. The path to this json file also failed in the IDE. https://github.com/espressif/arduino-es … ide/mac.md

which seem to mirror the “harder” instructions on the ESP32 hookup guide. Even following those instructions, I still had to search for roadblocks to getting my ESP32 Thing to actually run, like having to hold down the “1” button to actually get the sketch to load.

Oddly, when I load the json you helpfully linked, I actually see nothing listing what I’m looking for: ESP32 Thing. But lots about Thing Plus. It mirrors what I’m seeing in my IDE. Do you find that to be true? That’s why I posted here.

My apologies, I wasn’t as thorough as I should have been. Here is what I have for my JSON listings:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/master/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json
https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

After re-reading through the Hookup Guide, you’re not looking for ESP32 Thing. You’re looking for ESP32, specifically “ESP32 Dev Module”. When I opened my Boards Manager in the IDE, I can confirm that ESP ("ESP32 Dev Module) is there. I hope this is more helpful.