Cannot load APK on device because non existing emulator appears and disappears in Android Studio 3.3

Question

After installing Android Studio 3.3, the "Select deployment target" toggles between no connected devices and a non-existing emulator.

Every time when trying to install the App on an emulator or a real device, it shows below error message:

02/01 18:05:26: Launching app
$ adb push /Users/jimclermonts/Documents/Android-Code/sources/app/build/outputs/apk/acceptance/debug/app-acceptance-debug.apk /data/local/tmp/nl.mycompanyname.acc
Device emulator-5556disconnected, monitoring stopped.
Error while Installing APK

Here is a video showing the strange toggling:

I tried killing it programmatically but it keeps booting itself:

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached
emulator-5556   offline

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached
emulator-5556   offline

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb -s emulator-5556 emu kill
Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb -s emulator-5556 emu kill
Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb -s emulator-5556 emu kill
Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached

Mac-van-Jim:~ jimclermonts$ adb devices
List of devices attached
emulator-5556   offline

it just keeps starting and stopping adb...

Update:

Deleted Android Studio 3.3,

Deleted these directories:

users/jimclermonts/library/Android users/jimclermonts/.android users/jimclermonts/.gradle users/jimclermonts/Library/Application Support/AndroidStudio3.3

Removed all Android emulators, Genymotion and .Genymobile directory as well.

Updated from High Sierra to Mojave, same problem.

Reverted back to AS 3.2.1 and added SDK. Same problem.

Answer 1

I have struggled with this from yesterday on my Mac. Port 5556 is taken by an other app and that causes a fake emulator to be shown (in my case it was Videostream app)

Solution (in terminal):

1. sudo lsof -i:5556 // or any other port that is shown as emulator name, you will get PID
2. ps ax | grep [PID] It gave me the file that used the port (it was one of the files in Videostream app)
3. I used AppCleaner app to uninstall Videostream (but simple removal is sufficient)
4. I killed the PID with: kill -QUIT [PID]

Answer 2

Have you tried killing adb and restarting it?

 adb kill-server
 then
 adb start-server