Non-Standard Encryption Key Warning with BK7231M Mode Suggestion

Well, I was told to report this here by the program:
Encryption key read done!
Encryption key: 5100b093 00cbeadc 5993a100 c700eb03
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
WARNING! Non-standard encryption key!
Please report to forum https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/forum51.html
Or just try using BK7231M mode
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
There was no result to save.

So, what now? I tried N, M (Same) and T (It read from T, then said there was a checksum error)

510fb093 a3cbeadc 5993a17e c7adeb03 is the standard Tuya key which is suspiciously close to your reported key. How are your cables connected? Soldered or pogo? How long are they?

Does the read of firmware complete with "skip key check" ticked in the advanced options?

Soldered. About 6 inches. Yes, with skip key check it all read fine. In case it matters. This device has never been turned on. Bought it, opened it, tried to read. Never been connected to mains. I have not had to ground pin 18 to get it, or anything I have done to work. I have tried grounding it for a moment, and it made no difference. I have been following the guide at https://www.elektroda.com/rtvforum/topic4024658.html I don't care about being able to restore it to original firmware. If I can flash it safely let me know, and I will flash

Interesting. And the firmware that has backed up, does the config extractor work? Feel free to post your backup!

You didn't answer my question if it is safe to flash the new firmware. Or is it that you need more information? I have attacked the backup, and no, it was unable to obtain any config, see below. However, would the device not have to be configured before it has a configuration? Remember, it has never been turned on. I may not understand it though (I likely don't understand it)

Ok! Reading 0x1FA000... Ok! Reading 0x1FB000... Ok! Reading 0x1FC000... Ok! Reading 0x1FD000... Ok! Reading 0x1FE000... Ok! Reading 0x1FF000... Ok!
Basic read operation finished, but now it's time to verify...
Starting CRC check for 512 sectors, starting at offset 0x00
CRC matches 0x72767881!
All read!
Loaded total 0x200000 bytes
Wrote 2097152 to readResult_BK7231N_QIO_n-skipkey_2024-06-10-03-35-29.bin
Backup 2MB created, now will attempt to extract OBK config.
It's not an OBK config, header is bad
OBK config not found.
Backup 2MB created, now will attempt to extract Tuya config.
Failed to extract Tuya keys - magic constant header not found in binary
Sorry, failed to find Tuya Config in backup binary.

Hmm. That file is empty, so something isn't quite right, also evidenced by the (presumed) mis-reading of the Tuya key. You could flash but if it's not reading correctly then it would possibly fail to write properly too and you'd not have a working device.

Is your soldering sound? Could you reduce cable length?

You're right, lots of nothing in there.
I don't think I can shorten the cables, and honestly if it was a cable issue, would I not be getting just garbage rather than null? I am pretty sure the soldering is sound, again, would I not get garbage that wouldn't pass a checksum?
As far as flashing and ending up with a non-working device, I just bought it from Costco. If I can't get it to work the way I want, or it ducks up, it's going back.
I am gonna see if I have another serial adapter I can try. The drivers didn't install with the one I have right away, and in googling the issue, I was greeted with several posts in places saying the Win11 drivers don't work well with this device. I didn't bother reading because when I looked back, the drivers had been installed. So let me see what else I have, and try that.

Added after 35 [minutes]:

Well, using a different serial adapter did the trick! Did exactly what was expected (Except I didn't need to ground a second time to flash).
I unchecked "Skip key check" before I started with the new one, just to be sure, and bam. Read just fine, wrote just fine. All good.

shadowwizard wrote:

would I not be getting just garbage rather than null?

true

shadowwizard wrote:

Read just fine, wrote just fine. All good.

cool. if you took a working backup, would you mind posting that again?

Sorry it has taken me a bit. Have been really busy. Sure, I have no problems sharing the backup. As a reminder (if it matters) I have not connected this to mains before backing up. It was just named randomly.