Chip alive on WiFi, PSRAM detected 8 MB, pin maps correct (mic GPIO 6, speaker GPIO 16) — but the wake-word engine never produced log lines after channel/bit/log-level/diagnostic-YAML sweeps, including a stripped-down bare-mic build at DEBUG verbosity on a fresh breadboard. Conclusion: the INMP441 itself is the open suspect (likely loose L/R pin or faulty chip), not the firmware. After the rewiring + BOOT/RESET, the chip came back on WiFi but the API server refused to bind = safe mode. Pending: hard power-cycle, USB reflash of the bare-mic YAML, fresh INMP441 if still silent.