I know this has come up many times, I've tried to read all the responses, so far no solution on my system. So...
Macbook 2015 running Monterey MacOs 12.7.2 - the latest.
Arduino IDE 2.2.1 - the latest
Nano Every - not a clone. Green light on, yellow flashing.
A Pro Mini which is a clone - green light on. I try both boards for each test, configuring IDE for the correct board each time.
I have tried two different cables and both ports on my mac. I have rebooted. I restart the IDE for each test (each cable, each port...)
In the IDE, Tools -> Port only reports /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port. The words "Serial ports" are greyed out.
The message in the title comes when I click Get Board Info
I had a wireless USB mouse plugged into one of the USB ports. Then I repeated all testing with it disconnected.
I deleted the app and downloaded it fresh. Same results.
A year to two ago I ran an Arduino Uno from this same laptop. Probably earlier versions of IDE and MacOS, though I don't recall the specifics. It all worked fine. I don't still have the Uno or I would retry that.
Googling says that the current version of MacOS should have the drivers I need, so I did not install the FTDI drivers at first, though I have now tried that also with the VCP drivers. Did not do the D2xx drivers.
ls /dev/tty.* only reports the Bluetooth, no USB serial.
I do have /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBSerial.kext, and even did an unload/load of it. But do not assume that I know anything about dealing with these files.
I have added MCUdude's microUPDIcore.
I have an old sketch that worked on the Uno. If I tell it to upload, it compiles fine, then fails the upload with a status -1. It retries until I kill it. This seems consistent with not having the USBserial port.
My uneducated assessment is that the IDE won't recognize the USB serial port. I just don't know how to force it to do so. Any ideas?
Yes, I agree, the issue is at the OS level. After continued frustration and reading a number of similar discussions, I kept seeing people note that the computer simply wasn't seeing the device and many asked something like "are you sure the cable is good?" Well of course any numbnuts knows to check the cable and indeed I swapped in another before even posting. And then I tried a third cable. Boy, what a dumb suggestion. But I tried a FOURTH cable. And, it worked. Consistently the other cables were not seen by two different computers (Mac and Win) but the fourth cable was. On two different Arduinos. This seems crazy and I am wondering if Arduino boards spec a marginal connector because I have a hard time believing that three generally new cables were all dead, but the fourth cable consistently, definitively connects. I'm going on about this because I suspect there is someone else out there like me who thinks they've flogged this, so I'm just suggesting that if the evidence is that the computer is not connecting, believe the evidence and keep at it. It took me a week, hopefully you'll get it solved more quickly. Thanks to all.
There are "charge only" cables without the data wires; they come with things like external phone batteries... And a bunch of USB cables seem to have pretty questionable attachments between the wires and the USB connectors, and break really easily (especially microUSB.)
I suppose "charge only" cables exist, though some form of marking (skull and crossbones??) would be nice. And really, how many mico-pennies do they save when they make such a cable? feh. However, at least one of the failed cables came with one of my arduino boards, so, there's that. For now, I am marking all my failing cables (possibly charge-only types) with a pair of scissors.