Well… I guess i hit the emmc bypass button too many times…
Radxa should have a proper emmc bypass akin to that of the button on the front between the USB ports… even if it was smaller and I had to use a simtool or pin to hit it… beats me having to DRILL A HOLE in the heatsink and use a wooden pokiebit to flash the damn thing without taking it apart.
BTW the thermal paste was applied awful and there was very little contact between it and the CPU die. I took care of that with a thermal pad.
Now to figure out how to fix this damn thing… GRR.