Thanks for the help re RX/TX connect info. Just saw your response - in the meanwhile found this http://www.pratikpanda.com/completely-format-erase-esp8266-flash-memory/ -tried it to no avail, but followed Peter Scargills advice in comments and used Expressif tool python.exe esptool.py -p com3 -b 115...

Same porblem, but I can't access my esp through web. How can I send the reset command by serial?