Intermittent upload issues using VSCode and CLI or Arduino IDE

[mlemos]

I'm working with the Adafruit Feather RP2040 SCORPIO board.
My sketch is very simple and seems to be working fine.
However, sometimes... with the sketch running I can't upload new software to the board.

My system is like this:
MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1
Arduino IDE 2.3.2 (CLI 0.35.3)
Arduino CLI 0.35.3 (Installed via Homebrew and the one VSCode is using.)
VSCode 1.88.1
VSCode Arduino Extension v0.6.0

When I try to upload without success I get the following error messages:

Resetting /dev/tty.usbmodem101
Converting to uf2, output size: 153088, start address: 0x2000
Scanning for RP2040 devices
No drive to deploy.
Error during Upload: Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1
[Error] Uploading sketch 'pixelburn2024.ino': Exit with code=1

When this happens, I have to press the RESET and BOOT buttons on the board.
Then I'm able to upload.

Here is the sketch I'm using:

#include <Adafruit_NeoPXL8.h>

int8_t pins[8] = { 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 };
#define COLOR_ORDER NEO_GRB
#define NUM_LEDS    240

Adafruit_NeoPXL8HDR leds(NUM_LEDS, pins, COLOR_ORDER);

void setup() {
  if (!leds.begin(true, 4, true)) {
    pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
    for (;;) digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, (millis() / 500) & 1);
  }
  leds.setBrightness(65535 / 8, 2.6);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  uint32_t now = millis();
  for(int p = 0; p < NUM_LEDS; p++) {
    leds.setPixelColor(p, rain(now, p));
  }
  leds.show();
  Serial.println("HI!");
}

static uint8_t colors[8][3] = {
  {255,   0,   0}, // Red
  {255, 160,   0}, // Orange
  {255, 255,   0}, // Yellow
  {  0, 255,   0}, // Green
  {  0, 255, 255}, // Cyan
  {  0,   0, 255}, // Blue
  {192,   0, 255}, // Purple
  {255,   0, 255}  // Magenta
};

uint32_t rain(uint32_t now, int pixelNum) {
  uint8_t frame = now / 4;
  uint16_t b = 256 - ((frame + pixelNum * 256 / NUM_LEDS) & 0xFF);
  return leds.Color((colors[1][0] * b) >> 8,
                    (colors[1][1] * b) >> 8,
                    (colors[1][2] * b) >> 8);
}

void loop1() {
  leds.refresh();
}

Also, when I'm not able to upload, I'm also not able to connect to the Serial port.

Is something in my code that is causing this?

Or is this an issue with the tools I'm using?

Or an issue with the board?

How can I solve this?

Having to reset the board every time I need to upload a new version of my code is very disruptive for the development process.

Thanks in advance!