As a workaround, I hooked up an external FTDI adapter cable directly to the ESP32, and then Arduino IDE is able to start the flashing. But after, the Arduino sketch does not seems to run. My simple ...

I had this same issue with an ESP32 Dev Module V1, to "fix it" I held down the boot button while compiling/uploading the sketch from Arduino. Once the sketch was uploaded I power cycled by unplugging ...

Programming ESP32 with Arduino IDE: STEP 1: Connect your ESP32 board to your computer through the micro-USB cable. Make sure the red LED goes high on the module to ensure power supply. STEP 2: Start ...