do you have a known good copy of the chip dump? a copy that known works and boots a card? if not then of course it wont work.

Also, as far as the chip ID, its VERY VERY VERY possible. I know this because some bootloader blocks do check the presence of the correct chip before the card will boot. This is bootloader related, not firmware related (unless the bootloader is in the firwmare binary)

As far as anything else, I have no idea. Only thing you can do at this point is get another card identical, dump it, and then move the chip over and see if it will boot the card.

its also possible that the main IC has internal memory as well....

also dont rule out the fact that the card could have suffered a general failure in the main IC, and when CC was flashing it, that IC failure could have been coincidental to the flashing of the IC.