Flashing ESP32 Help?

I have built a JD Garage CNC plasma cutter, and am about ready to try my first cut.

I had foolishly bought v1.0 plans that use an Arduino Uno, which I apparently smoked trying to flash it.

I bought v2.0 plans so I could move to ESP32 boards, of which I bought two ESP32-WROOM-32D boards because I was feeling extra lucky.  After quite a challenge in troubleshooting where it appears somehow both boards magically dropped a valid ground pin. One I flashed for WiFi which works, and one I flashed for Bluetooth which cannot connect. I have the Wifi one connecting and moving, but....

JD Garage says I should have bought a ESP32-WROOM-32U board. So, feeling lucky, I ordered two.

They arrived today, and while I can get the computer to recognize a "Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM4)" exists, I cannot get OpenBuilds-CONTROL to connect so I can flash the firmware.

I am a pretty big noob at this, but nothing has changed from the previous ESP32 flashing I did just this week.  Is there a magic button or procedure I'm missing?

"Help me GRM, you're my only hope." (grin)

I haven't flashed one of these in particular but I have flashed many other things, if you're seeing the device show up on the list of serial ports but the flash process isn't starting, the problem is either in the hardware you're flashing (not in the right mode to be reflashed?), the serial communication settings (baud, parity etc) or the software you're flashing with (just doesn't work for some reason? Is there another variant of the software for the different ESP32 model?). So check over the communication settings and any hardware preparation steps. Some devices will only accept a reflash if it's started within a few seconds after power-up, like some factory ECUs...

If none of that works, see if there's an option to reflash in Linux, you could boot from a Linux live image to hopefully get some different software to try reflashing with, and some better tools to help troubleshoot the problem with.

I had success flashing the previous version, these new ones are a few iterations newer ("U," vs "D"), but all else should be the same.  There is no "magic formula" to flash these, just connect and flash.  I'm just not winning with these ones.  They're not connectable on my Linux box either. Visible, but not connectable.

I contacted JDG and they said my old boards work fine for them (one is working fine for me). I contacted the "U" seller and they basically said "google it."

Ok.  I'm an imbecile.

And clearly need a bigger cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

Yes, the PC can "see" the ESP32 board.  Until it's flashed, there is nothing to connect to:

On a whim, I gave up trying to make it connect, and just hit "flash firmware" in OpenBuilds-CONTROL.

It went: Connecting.... Flashing.... Done.

I'm an idiot.  Please carry on , there is nothing to see here.

Cool project please post how it works for you.  I have a Mostly Printed CNC that's about 90% finished I have been working on that looks similar.