Xiao ESP32-C3 boot message

Hi All,

I have been trying to load code built with Zephyr onto a Xiao ESP32-C3. I have tried with both the command line and Zephyr IDE plugin for VS Code. I have only one Xiao ESP32-C3, which I bought recently from a UK supplier. I wonder if it is the problem.

The code builds and appears to flash OK, but it does not run. As part of my troubleshooting I used the Arduino IDE to build a blinky according to the instructions on the Seeed website and it worked fine. However, it would not load and run from the USB interface unless I held down the Boot button and pushed the Reset button before loading.

I connected a USB serial adapter to the RX and TX pins and opened a terminal on a different machine. I tried to flash using Zephyr and the flash process seemed to go OK. It terminated but the Xiao did not reset until I pushed the Reset button. When I did, the following was sent to the terminal:

ESP-ROM:esp32c3-api1-20210207                                                 
Build:Feb  7 2021                                
rst:0x1 (POWERON),boot:0xd (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
SPIWP:0xee                                                          
mode:DIO, clock div:2                                    
load:0x3fc931b0,len:0x15ac                          
load:0x40380000,len:0x131a0                        
SHA-256 comparison failed:                          
Calculated: 858abf75ede080942a6f397b42ee046a47f4a5d83d4ada3af953240a8330ccaa
Expected: 0000000070b80000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Attempting to boot anyway...                      
entry 0x40382cc6                                              
I (95) boot: ESP Simple boot                      
I (95) boot: compile time Dec 15 2024 18:14:24
I (96) spi_flash: detected chip: generic
I (96) spi_flash: flash io: dio                
W (97) spi_flash: Detected size(4096k) larger than the size in the binary image header(2048k). Using the size in the binary image header.
I (110) boot: chip revision: v0.4            
I (113) boot.esp32c3: SPI Speed      : 40MHz
I (117) boot.esp32c3: SPI Mode       : DIO
I (120) boot.esp32c3: SPI Flash Size : 4MB
I (124) boot: Enabling RNG early entropy source...
I (129) boot: DRAM: lma 0x00000020 vma 0x3fc931b0 len 0x15ac   (5548)
I (135) boot: IRAM: lma 0x000015d4 vma 0x40380000 len 0x131a0  (78240)
I (141) boot: padd: lma 0x00014788 vma 0x00000000 len 0xb870   (47216)
I (147) boot: IMAP: lma 0x00020000 vma 0x42000000 len 0x82f0   (33520)
I (154) boot: padd: lma 0x000282f8 vma 0x00000000 len 0x7d00   (32000)
I (160) boot: DMAP: lma 0x00030000 vma 0x3c010000 len 0x9c8    (2504)
I (167) boot: Image with 6 segments        
I (169) boot: DROM segment: paddr=00030000h, vaddr=3c010000h, size=009D0h (  2512) map
I (177) boot: IROM segment: paddr=00020000h, vaddr=42000000h, size=082F0h ( 33520) map
I (220) heap_runtime: ESP heap runtime init at 0x3fc96d80 size 212 kB.

I am not quite sure what to make of this. It happens regardless of the code I try to build and load. Is this unit faulty, or really old? Any advice would be welcome

Thanks in advance,

Rob