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Trying to flash ESP8266 with Arduino UNO

This is my first project other than some of the starter projects. I am trying to flash the firmware onto an ESP8266 wifi module using and arduino uno. It would be nice to know if anything is wrong/redundant in the picture below (I was looking at a few different diagrams to try and figure out what was right). I have found some tutorials saying that TX should go to RX instead of TX to TX so that is what I am doing. I am trying to use the level shifter to go from 5v to 3.3v because I wasn't sure if I had enough current going to the ESP8266 when just directly hooked up to 3.3v on arduino (I read in a few places that the arduino doesn't have a strong enough current to operate the wifi module). I found some tutorials which use a voltage regulator, I tried doing that but had the same results I am getting now. I have also read that you don't need a level shifter or voltage regulator but it might harm the components so I haven't tried that way yet.

I am the point where I plug it into my computer via USB, open the Arduino IDE > Tools > Serial Monitor.

I type the command 'AT' and there is no response - I tried every baud setting. Sometimes it randomly outputs a question mark or two.

Other things of note: When I plug it in, the ESP8266 blue light flashes once. When I was modding the header pins of the ESP8266 I kind of fumbled it a lot - could that have broken some aspect of the chip? Also while modding the header pins, I pushed them all in to make them longer and bent them on the other side, so it would work with the breadboard - I'm wondering if the soldering connections need to be stronger (you can kind of see in the picture).

This is the schematic for what I was trying to achieve basically, while also using the level shifter:

Any advice with regards to anything you see here would be great, I am new to the world of circuits.

Note: there is a ground wire that is not in the frame of the picture connecting one side of the breadboard to the other, that part of this is one thing I was wondering about.

Answer*

I think I may be able to help clarify things a bit here:

You are not trying to "flash" the ESP01 (the kind you have) board, but you are trying to talk to the AT command firmware it came installed with.

Also, there's a sort of pingback sketch (I forget the name and can't find it, but it basically uses a SoftwareSerial and copies characters from one to the other and vice versa) that is used to configure the ESP01 that's *normally* used, but you don't seem to be using it here (it may not be worth the effort, either, since it's tricky to get working sometimes).

In this case, it seems that you are trying to do one of two things:

If you are trying to talk to the ESP01 module **from the computer** connect the TX to the TX pin and the RX to the RX pin. This is because the Arduino board's serial adapter is *already* connected in the mirrored direction, and you are using that to talk to the ESP01. Do note that you should, **before** connecting the ESP01, upload the Blink sketch or similar to the Arduino so that it's not trying to use the Serial connection too.
See http://www.teomaragakis.com/hardware/electronics/how-to-connect-an-esp8266-to-an-arduino-uno/ for more information on that use case.

On the other hand, if you are trying to talk to the device from the Arduino itself (as in, the Arduino has a program that needs WiFi access), you'd want to connect it RX to TX and TX to RX. Of course, when doing this, the Arduino should already have its program uploaded since the ESP01 would cause issues uploading firmware via Serial afterward (they both talk at once).

Lastly, these things are REALLY finicky, so make sure you set the baud rate and use NLCR end-of-line signaling.

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