ESP8266 Community Forum

Ok, so I have a USB to Serial adapter with a CH340G on it, an M3 Module, a breadboard, one of those 3/5V breadboard power supplies.

I've checked and checked and rechecked and rechecked my connections.
3.3v from the BB PS to VCC on the M3
GND to GND on the BB PS
TX of M3 to RX of USB/Serial
RX of M3 to TX of USB/Serial
GND of USB/Serial to GND on M3

I've done a loopback test on my USB/Serial, which seemed to pass, was echoing my keystrokes.
I've tried every board setting I can try in the Arduino IDE, every Baud Rate available, different COM ports on my PC, and I can't get it to upload a sketch.

I power everything down, I ground GPIO0 of the M3
I plug USB/Serial into PC
I turn on BB PS for 3.3V
I remove GPIO0 from ground
I pull the RST pin to GND. I get some blue flashes here and a quick comms flash on my USB/Serial.
Then I try to upload any sketch, and
warning espcomm_sync failed
error: espcomm_open failed
error: espcomm_upload_mem failed
error: espcomm_upload_mem failed (yes, twice)

I've repeated this exercise for hours with every change I can throw at it. This thing just will not communicate. I've tried Putty on all the COM ports, but I can't see any real information.

Am I missing some piece of the puzzle here? I'm a noob, but I understand serial comms and such, at least I thought I did. What am I doing wrong? The module is from Aliexpress, so might it just be bad?

I'm kinda frustrated that's why I'm reaching out for help. I need to get some of these up and running to develop a proof of concept for someone that might buy something from me, but I can't get over this initial hump. What gives?