Originally posted by @grgrant in #10922 (comment)
On a Feather ESP32S3 N4R2 with a freshly formatted drive simply typing import wifi at REPL causes a safemode crash. No issues on 10.3.0-alpha.1. Of the S3 releases published for this board between Alpha.1 and PR10922 none of the others crash importing wifi. However PR10984 for UM F3D new pin definition does crash in the same way -- perhaps includes code in 10922.
Checked this release on a Feather ESP32S2 TFT and didn't see the crash so perhaps a difference between S2 and S3 codebases (maybe bluetooth).
Adafruit CircuitPython 10.3.0-alpha.1-6-g45fecd285a on 2026-05-07; Adafruit Feather ESP32S3 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM with ESP32S3
>>>
>>>
>>> import wifi
[14:58:03.339] Disconnected
[14:58:04.351] Warning: Could not open (No such file or directory)
[14:58:04.352] Waiting for tty device..
[14:58:06.394] Connected to /dev/tty.usbmodem8B8F267DF7841
You are in safe mode because:
CircuitPython core code crashed hard. Whoops!
Hard fault: memory access or instruction error.
Please file an issue with your program at github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/issues.
Press reset to exit safe mode.
Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.
In case it is helpful, the following debug/crash log is shown on a QtPy ESP32-S3 N4R2 console if one has a settings.toml with SSID/PASSWORD (all the reset of web workflow was not provided). It just loops and blinks the led blue.
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0xc (RTC_SW_CPU_RST),boot:0x8 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4038566e
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce2820,len:0x1854
load:0x403c8700,len:0x4
load:0x403c8704,len:0x11f4
load:0x403cb700,len:0x30c0
entry 0x403c8a5c
I (26) boot: ESP-IDF v5.3.2 2nd stage bootloader
I (26) boot: compile time Jul 3 2025 10:50:51
I (26) boot: Multicore bootloader
I (29) boot: chip revision: v0.2
I (33) boot: efuse block revision: v1.3
I (38) qio_mode: Enabling default flash chip QIO
I (43) boot.esp32s3: Boot SPI Speed : 80MHz
I (48) boot.esp32s3: SPI Mode : QIO
I (52) boot.esp32s3: SPI Flash Size : 4MB
I (57) boot: Enabling RNG early entropy source...
I (63) boot: Partition Table:
I (66) boot: ## Label Usage Type ST Offset Length
I (73) boot: 0 nvs WiFi data 01 02 00009000 00005000
I (81) boot: 1 otadata OTA data 01 00 0000e000 00002000
I (88) boot: 2 ota_0 OTA app 00 10 00010000 002c0000
I (96) boot: 3 uf2 factory app 00 00 002d0000 00040000
I (103) boot: 4 ffat Unknown data 01 81 00310000 000f0000
I (111) boot: End of partition table
I (115) boot: Reset Reason = 12
I (119) boot: Reset hint = 4
I (122) esp_image: segment 0: paddr=00010020 vaddr=3c150020 size=41330h (267056) map
I (171) esp_image: segment 1: paddr=00051358 vaddr=3fc9e800 size=047d0h ( 18384) load
I (174) esp_image: segment 2: paddr=00055b30 vaddr=40374000 size=0a4e8h ( 42216) load
I (184) esp_image: segment 3: paddr=00060020 vaddr=42000020 size=14c444h (1360964) map
I (387) esp_image: segment 4: paddr=001ac46c vaddr=4037e4e8 size=1021ch ( 66076) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 5: paddr=001bc690 vaddr=50001fd0 size=00024h ( 36) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 6: paddr=001bc6bc vaddr=600fe000 size=01060h ( 4192) load
I (417) boot: Loaded app from partition at offset 0x10000
I (418) boot: Disabling RNG early entropy source...
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0xc (RTC_SW_CPU_RST),boot:0x8 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4038566e
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce2820,len:0x1854
load:0x403c8700,len:0x4
load:0x403c8704,len:0x11f4
load:0x403cb700,len:0x30c0
entry 0x403c8a5c
I (26) boot: ESP-IDF v5.3.2 2nd stage bootloader
I (26) boot: compile time Jul 3 2025 10:50:51
I (26) boot: Multicore bootloader
I (29) boot: chip revision: v0.2
I (33) boot: efuse block revision: v1.3
I (38) qio_mode: Enabling default flash chip QIO
I (43) boot.esp32s3: Boot SPI Speed : 80MHz
I (48) boot.esp32s3: SPI Mode : QIO
I (52) boot.esp32s3: SPI Flash Size : 4MB
I (57) boot: Enabling RNG early entropy source...
I (63) boot: Partition Table:
I (66) boot: ## Label Usage Type ST Offset Length
I (73) boot: 0 nvs WiFi data 01 02 00009000 00005000
I (81) boot: 1 otadata OTA data 01 00 0000e000 00002000
I (88) boot: 2 ota_0 OTA app 00 10 00010000 002c0000
I (96) boot: 3 uf2 factory app 00 00 002d0000 00040000
I (103) boot: 4 ffat Unknown data 01 81 00310000 000f0000
I (111) boot: End of partition table
I (115) boot: Reset Reason = 12
I (119) boot: Reset hint = 4
I (122) esp_image: segment 0: paddr=00010020 vaddr=3c150020 size=41330h (267056) map
I (171) esp_image: segment 1: paddr=00051358 vaddr=3fc9e800 size=047d0h ( 18384) load
I (174) esp_image: segment 2: paddr=00055b30 vaddr=40374000 size=0a4e8h ( 42216) load
I (184) esp_image: segment 3: paddr=00060020 vaddr=42000020 size=14c444h (1360964) map
I (387) esp_image: segment 4: paddr=001ac46c vaddr=4037e4e8 size=1021ch ( 66076) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 5: paddr=001bc690 vaddr=50001fd0 size=00024h ( 36) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 6: paddr=001bc6bc vaddr=600fe000 size=01060h ( 4192) load
I (417) boot: Loaded app from partition at offset 0x10000
I (418) boot: Disabling RNG early entropy source...
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0xc (RTC_SW_CPU_RST),boot:0x8 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4038566e
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce2820,len:0x1854
load:0x403c8700,len:0x4
load:0x403c8704,len:0x11f4
load:0x403cb700,len:0x30c0
entry 0x403c8a5c
I (26) boot: ESP-IDF v5.3.2 2nd stage bootloader
I (26) boot: compile time Jul 3 2025 10:50:51
I (26) boot: Multicore bootloader
I (29) boot: chip revision: v0.2
I (33) boot: efuse block revision: v1.3
I (38) qio_mode: Enabling default flash chip QIO
I (43) boot.esp32s3: Boot SPI Speed : 80MHz
I (48) boot.esp32s3: SPI Mode : QIO
I (52) boot.esp32s3: SPI Flash Size : 4MB
I (57) boot: Enabling RNG early entropy source...
I (63) boot: Partition Table:
I (66) boot: ## Label Usage Type ST Offset Length
I (73) boot: 0 nvs WiFi data 01 02 00009000 00005000
I (81) boot: 1 otadata OTA data 01 00 0000e000 00002000
I (88) boot: 2 ota_0 OTA app 00 10 00010000 002c0000
I (96) boot: 3 uf2 factory app 00 00 002d0000 00040000
I (103) boot: 4 ffat Unknown data 01 81 00310000 000f0000
I (111) boot: End of partition table
I (115) boot: Reset Reason = 12
I (119) boot: Reset hint = 4
I (122) esp_image: segment 0: paddr=00010020 vaddr=3c150020 size=41330h (267056) map
I (171) esp_image: segment 1: paddr=00051358 vaddr=3fc9e800 size=047d0h ( 18384) load
I (174) esp_image: segment 2: paddr=00055b30 vaddr=40374000 size=0a4e8h ( 42216) load
I (184) esp_image: segment 3: paddr=00060020 vaddr=42000020 size=14c444h (1360964) map
I (387) esp_image: segment 4: paddr=001ac46c vaddr=4037e4e8 size=1021ch ( 66076) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 5: paddr=001bc690 vaddr=50001fd0 size=00024h ( 36) load
I (400) esp_image: segment 6: paddr=001bc6bc vaddr=600fe000 size=01060h ( 4192) load
I (417) boot: Loaded app from partition at offset 0x10000
I (418) boot: Disabling RNG early entropy source...
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
...
Originally posted by @grgrant in #10922 (comment)
On a Feather ESP32S3 N4R2 with a freshly formatted drive simply typing import wifi at REPL causes a safemode crash. No issues on 10.3.0-alpha.1. Of the S3 releases published for this board between Alpha.1 and PR10922 none of the others crash importing wifi. However PR10984 for UM F3D new pin definition does crash in the same way -- perhaps includes code in 10922.
Checked this release on a Feather ESP32S2 TFT and didn't see the crash so perhaps a difference between S2 and S3 codebases (maybe bluetooth).
In case it is helpful, the following debug/crash log is shown on a QtPy ESP32-S3 N4R2 console if one has a settings.toml with SSID/PASSWORD (all the reset of web workflow was not provided). It just loops and blinks the led blue.