Bigtreetech CB1 with eMMc - klipper installation fails

[soft ore]

Hello everyone,
I ab trying and failing to isntall Klipper on a Raspberry Pi CM4 replacement, the CB1 by Bigtreetech/Biqu with onboard storage.
I am using it with the Pi4B adapter, which basically makes it a Pi4-equivalent.
I am following the installation guide from github, here: https://github.com/bigtreetech/CB1
I have managed to have the eMMc recognised by the computer and both balenaEtcher and the Rapsberry etcher as per the instructions. But whatever I do, I cannot successfully complete the etching process. I have tried to etch the full linux kernel version of klipper in the special variant for the CB1 board onto an SD card and onto eMMc, both balenaEtcher and Rapsi Etcher fail. I have tried V2.3.1 and 2.3.0. I have also tried to etch just standard Raspberry OS, the recommended version, onto the SD card with the Raspi Etcher. In all attempts, the SD card is connected to the PC via a USB hub and the CB1 is connected to a standard USB socket via its USB-C connector.
Nothing works. What am I missing? Please help -.-

[hexed sleet]

The CB1 shouldn't be connected at all to the PC. Only the sdcard

Furthermore it's raspberry pi imager and not raspi etcher

[snow wasp]

Ahoi @soft ore!
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[hexed sleet]

Also you are flashing and not etching

As the bot says, we are also missing some information. Like screenshots or similar from the error during the flashing process

[soft ore]

Pardon for the wrong terminology.
The error messages were completely useless, they literally just said "Flashing failed" or "flashing process was not successful", somehting along those lines. No error codes, no specifics, nothing.
I had to connect the CB1 to the PC because I wanted to flash to the onboard memory, the emmc. That is still my end goal, despite the fact that, for some reason, the flash with balenaEtcher directly to the SD card turned out to be successful just then.

[hexed sleet]

So your goal is the emmc flash and not sdcard flash?

[soft ore]

correct

I just tried a few things before posting

[hexed sleet]

But tbh, I shouldn't invest my time into support, the BTT team should do. You bought their product, so you should ask them for help. Might sound rude, but it's not worth putting my free time into support for a big company (that doesn't pay me) ^^

[soft ore]

I would love to put you guys on somebodys payroll, you have already helped me tremendously before.
Your investment and effort does not go unseen and is greatly appreciated 🙂

I just thought maybe something is known about the Raspberry pi imager not working or something because I have no sensible explanation why the flash of the recommended rapsberry pi OS directly onto the SD card failed. That should have worked no matter what, right?
Especially since balenaEtcher just managed to flash the CB1-Klipper onto that exact SD-Card

If only the flash to emmc failed, i would not be here but talking to support, but if the raspberry imager fails to flash raspberry OS to the sd card, that strikes me as odd

[hexed sleet]

Overall it should work. Nothing known about problems

Mabye broken sdcard?

And balen just didn't catch it previously?

[soft ore]

I have used the same card for all falshing attemts and the last one was successful. Doesn't seem to me like the SD card is broken

[hexed sleet]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[proven delta]

If you try to flash the same SDCard three times in a row and every try ends successful, then the SDcard is fine, if it doesnt, mostlikely you can throw it to the next trash bin 😉

And could you please be kind and point me to the documentation about flashing the onboard emmc?

[soft ore]

Thanks for taking the time!

[soft ore]

I tried flashing both card and memory with two versions of the custom OS with both the raspberry Pi Imager and baleaEtcher. Only the last attempt of flashing the older version with balsa to the card was successful. So if I get you right, you think the card is toast and I should get a new one. Certainly worth a shot, especially since the CB1 refuses to boot.
The instructions for the onboard memory are on the bottom of the linked GitHub page, it is reasonably short 👍
Thank you for taking the time KwandFan 😊

[soft ore]

Some tidbits that might be interesting: I have since tried to run the CB1 OS from the SD card and for that I had edited the BoardEnv file to be set up for either the SD card operation mode or the onboard storage mode, no difference. However, when I tried flashing the OS onto the onboard storage, I had to flip the switches 3 (RPIBOOT) and 4 (USBOTG) to ON. I have since flipped them back to OFF and now when I power the board up, not only is the LED2 lighting up, which is located on the CB1 itself and always on the moment the board receives power, but also the ACT led starts blinking, which is located on the Pi4B adapter board. Also the lights on the ethernet port light up, but that doesn't last long. It still doesn't show up on my router, so I can't find the IP adress to actually get cracking on it.
Not to mention that it isn't running from onboard storage, but working from the SD card would be a first step.
I will also reach out to customer support and if they figure it out, I will post here, in case other people here want to work with that board.

[hexed sleet]

You sure the CB! is compatibvle with the official carrier?

[soft ore]

So first of all, I have successfully flashed the emmc using a short usb a to usb c cable with usb 3.1 from an externa cd drive in a ubs 3.1 port on my pc.
I have no idea, why the usb cable used would make a difference, especially when there already is a connection, but appartently it matters.

[soft ore]

What do you mean by official carrier exactly?

[hexed sleet]

I think you are using the Pi4B carrier from the raspberry pi foundation. That's the official once in my eyes

[soft ore]

Ah ic. No I am using the CB1 board and the Pi4B carrier both from BTT.

If they are incompatible, I have questions+

[hexed sleet]

They should be compatible ig. With the raspberry pi foundaiton one, it might be incompatible, that's why I asked