Power was from a 9v rms supply, through a full bridge rectifier, then a 47uf cap across the output through to an mp1584 IC/pcb set to output 3.28V DC as measured by an oscilloscope. The output without load had ripple but the AC component was minimal.
To try and confirm the chip was working, I made the following connections:
Vcc +3v, Gnd to Gnd. A 102 capacitor across this at the pins.
A 10k resistor from GPIO15 to Gnd.
I connected ch_pd direct to vcc
Touched GPIO00 to gnd, then reset by disconnect/reconnect vcc
The usb to serial adaptor I used is a 3.3v adaptor I have used a lot before, attached gnd, tx and rx only (not 3.3 to vcc)
I then used the esp flasher to upload the AT firmware from April at about 50% of the way through the chip started 'chirping'
At 89%, the flash failed, and the chip is no longer responding. It is drawing .144A