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#199636
If you supply external 3.3 volt with GND to it (EDIT: or simply 5 volt and GND to the Vusb pin and GND), and only connect to pin U0RXD, U0TXD, RTS,DTR and GND with a separate USB-to-serial converter (with 3.3volt signal levels) then it should work. The second USB-to-serial converter will likely not supply enough current to power the ESP32.

I do not know if this falls under waranty but you might want to check with Sparkfun customer support for assistance. Or see if you can resolder the USB connector. Hard to say anything about the possibility of that without pictures though.