Ender 3, CR Touch and firmware issues

Hi, I am brand new to the world of 3D printing and have just taken advantage of the very attractive offer from Creality and have purchased the Ender 3 (basic model). I also purchased a Crealty branded CR Touch to help with checking the bed level. The problem is that I don’t seem to be able to flash the Ender’s firmware to accept the CR Touch. I have followed the instructions but no matter how I try my Ender fails to see the .bin file.

the information as available of the printer’s info screen is:
Ender-3
Software 2.0.8.6
Hardware 4.2.2
2.0.8.2
2023-03-17

Extruders: 1
Baudrate: 115200

Any advice that can be offered by anyone who has gone through the same process will be gratefully accepted. Before you ask, yes I disconnected the Z axis sensor as instructed in the inadequate manual

Which model Ender 3? The basic model could be a V3SE but that already has the CR touch built in.

Hi, its the very basic one that has been retailing for £109 (too good to miss). From looking at photos of the boards it seams to have the 32bit one, so I am at a loss.

Is the .bin file in the root directory of the card? If its in a subdirectory it might not see it.

Yes, its the only thing on the card.

Any special characters in the filename? Being an older printer it might limit the filename length, perhaps rename it to something simple?

I tried that, I read somewhere else that the .bin file should be renamed to firmware.bin… made no difference. I have tried two different downloads with no response. I will say that the instructions that came with the CR Touch that the printer should be reset to factory settings, but firstly the instructions were referring to a newer version and I can find no way of resetting the firmware so I am assuming that there is some hidden sequence of commands that are not immediately apparent. Still open to suggestions, someone must have gone through the same process.

I have been looking for the solution on line and came across this page: How to Update the Firmware on an Ender 3 - Simple Guide - 3D Printerly there are a couple of videos on the page with a possible answer which I will try tomorrow. It looks like I will first have to install the Marlin bootloader using an Arduino and Arduino IDE. If all goes well I will be back with the good news, if it all goes wrong… well answers on a postcard… Thanks for you efforts Bonfireman, much appreciated.

In conclusion, happily this issue is now solved. The new base open source Ender 3 already has a boot loader installed, the video I mentioned before turned out to be no help as if referred to the older 8 bit main board and not the 32 bit 4.2.2 main board that now is a part of many of Creality’s Ender 3 printers. Following days of frustration plus a length online chat with a chap named James at Creality UK support I was no nearer a solution. Then I noticed thanks to the introduction of another SD card to my now collection of 3, that the printer failed to read anything from the card I had been using to attempt the firmware update, yet was happy reading the other 2. A faulty SD card turned out to be the cause of the best of four days of frustration. The CR Touch is working, the firmware is now flashed and the Chinese display menu has been changed back to English. Call me a Happy Bunny.

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