kolban wrote:I think a reset on the story is what is needed. Have a look at this sample page:
http://www.electronicsupgrade.com/the-esp-12esp8266-arduino-wi-fi-shield/
I am guessing that YOU installed THAT program/sketch on the Arduino and the Arduino is running that program. And THAT is where the "Goodnight Moon" text is coming from ... from the setup code inside the Arduino. That puts a whole new twist on the story ... now we have a PC connected USB to an Arduino that is running a sketch that is receiving serial data that is transmitting it to a second serial that is connected to an ESP8266.
And if that is the case ... and your goal is simply to load a custom app into the ESP8266 ... then I'm going to claim that this is much more complicated than it need be. It would also explain why serial input just "disappears". It is being consumed by the Arduino sketch but not written to ESP8266.
I solved the problem, it works now You were right, this sketch was already on Arduino:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/softwareSerial
I must have uploaded it before and then forgot about it. I uploaded this sketch to Arduino instead, connected the module and it started responding to the AT commands:
http://cdn.instructables.com/FMV/9XU0/I ... .LARGE.jpg
It's from the tutorial on instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/noobs-g ... /?ALLSTEPS
It was such a silly mistake, thank you all very much for your help!