USB-A to USB-C Replacement – Troubleshooting Failures

What I did, step by step:

1. Cut off the USB-A cable from a device. (smart card reader)

2. Cut a USB-C to USB-A cable in half. (cable came with a phone)

3. Soldered the USB-C part (see step 2) to the device (see step 1):

   

4. Connected the device to my phone: It was not detected. (lsusb in
   Termux)

5. Cut a USB-A to Micro cable in half.

6. By soldering, replaced the USB-C cable with the USB-A cable from step 5.
   (In case you wonder: I could’ve used the original cable from step 1, but
   that was already destroyed as I tore it apart – see below.)

   

7. Connected the device to my phone using a USB-C to A adapter. Now it worked.

What did I do wrong?

Now I read in an answer that one should do some connections via a resistor.
However:

• I tore the cable from step 2 apart:

  • The USB-A part contains no resistor. Furthermore the colors of the wires
    exactly matched the standard USB-A pin out.

  • The USB-C part contains some electronics. There is a component labeled
    D9 and another very tiny component possibly labeled R1. It looks like
    that tiny component bridges the white and the green wire. It’s hard to
    see because it is all covered in glue which is almost impossible to peel
    off.

• On the web, I found advertisements for USB-C to USB-A cables that mention
  the resistor being part of the USB-C plug. I assume this is standard
  practice.

I don’t understand what went wrong. The solder connections were certainly good.
In fact I redid them, then tried again, got the same result. Also I was very
careful not to short any connections, except for intentionally shorting the two
black wires once: no difference