Problems with LED aside…
Here is a quick run down how to fix the upload problems
The default macOS driver seems to have a problem with the CH34x chipset/board.
You have to install the CH34xVCPDriver.
If you are on a M1/M2 ARM machine you need to install and use the app from the DMG. On Intel the pkg seems to do the trick.
What is a little weird is that I don’t see the driver loaded:
kextstat | grep -v apple
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded
No variant specified, falling back to release
Index Refs Address Size Wired Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
and that it now creates two ports.
One seems to be the old driver, the other one the new driver.
$ pio device list
/dev/cu.wchusbserial57810170451
-------------------------------
Hardware ID: USB VID:PID=1A86:55D3 SER=5781017045 LOCATION=2-1
Description: USB Single Serial
/dev/cu.usbmodem57810170451
---------------------------
Hardware ID: USB VID:PID=1A86:55D3 SER=5781017045 LOCATION=2-1
Description: USB Single Serial
You need to ensure that pio uses the wch port.
This pio ini now solved the upload for me:
[env:esp32-s3-devkitc1-n16r8]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc1-n16r8
framework = arduino
upload_port = /dev/cu.wchusbserial*