[Solved] Failure to flash on macOS (not the usual Finder problem)

[copper inlet]

Dear All,

Up to a 3/4 months ago I used to flash my keyboard dragging and dropping files on the mounted volumes, with no error messages.

At some point in the recent past, I received an error message when doing so. The general internet wisdom was, at the time, to disregard the error message as the files were actually copied on the volume, even though the error message was displayed. And in fact I could flash my keyboard correctly.

I have now tried to flash my keyboard and the drag-and-drop procedure gives me the usual error, but the keyboard is not flashed (new configurations are not copied)

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “corne_left nice_view_adapter nice_view-nice_nano_v2-zmk.uf2” can’t be read or written. (Error code -36)

On the command line I see the following error message:

cp: /Volumes/NICENANO/corne_left nice_view_adapter nice_view-nice_nano_v2-zmk.uf2: fcopyfile failed: Input/output error cp: /Users/daniele/Desktop/firmware/corne_left nice_view_adapter nice_view-nice_nano_v2-zmk.uf2: could not copy extended attributes to /Volumes/NICENANO/corne_left nice_view_adapter nice_view-nice_nano_v2-zmk.uf2: Device not configured

Any idea on how to proceed?

[lean bough]

Are you sure the reason behind you not seeing changes isn't something else, like modifying the wrong file? In any case, one thing you can try is shortening the uf2 file name. Some people reported that solved an issue like this

[copper inlet]

Thank you @lean bough for helping. I have now tried to shorten filenames but to no effect. I am reasonably sure of what I am doing, but let me write it here, as you may see issues where I don't. I have firmware that I routinely use and flash on several keyboards. I have downloaded it from my GitHub repo. After a repair, I was handed back my keyboard on which a new config has been flashed. So there is currently a config on the keyboard that has nothing to do with my usual setup. I am then taking the left .ut2 file and put it on the left volume, once mounted, and similarly for the right one.

Is there anything else I could try?

[lean bough]

I see, does the controller reboot as usual after trying to flash?

I assume the firmware they flashed is ZMK as well

[copper inlet]

I would say yes: the keyboard is not usable when the volume is mounted, and returns to work as normal, with the old firmware, after the volume is ejected (but apparently no copy has been made of the new firmware).

They keyboard is a corne gateron low profile by BeeKeb.

The person who has done a repair of the soldering has also Flashed the keyboard with a new soft-off feature

(So Zmk)

https://github.com/ykz89/zmk-config-corne-chocofi-with-niceview/commit/8d5b8b8d219c428d6ad20c3da237f10987b15669

Above is the repo

[lean bough]

The only thing I know that can break flashing (after flashing zmk firmware) is having different flash partitions. That can happen if you e.g. flash a nice60 firmware to nice nanos. In this scenario that seems very unlikely, so I can’t think of anything right now, sorry

Maybe share your config repo as well where you got your own firmware that you are trying to flash from

[copper inlet]

Hi @lean bough here it is https://github.com/danieleavitabile/zmk-config

And thanks for caring

[lean bough]

No problems there, the build is picking up your keymap correctly. Can you try another device to flash?

If you can reproduce the issue in another (ideally non macOS) computer, it might be time to contact the vendor

[copper inlet]

I've solved the problem. The person who repaired my keyboard suggest to reset the keyboard following https://zmk.dev/docs/troubleshooting#option-2-download-reset-uf2-from-zmks-workflow. I went for option 1 as option 2 was not really viable (at the time of writing the only precompiled successful build has an expired, non-downloadable firmware). I have now a flashed keyboard.

Thank you @lean bough you have been very helpful

[lean bough]

Good to hear, thanks!