If you had to tape your cables together, then I suspect you simply aren't putting them together correctly. You might need the Shimano tool TL-EW02. The cables need to be pushed in till you feel it seat with a click.
If you connect to your bike with eTube project and you don't even see the SM-BCR2 and the first device in the chain, then something is up. Probably with windows and the eTube software. Get that fixed first.
Otherwise everything else with your bike will be a mad scramble to find the single issue that might be your trouble. Which I've actually forgotten what your OP was for.
And as I said, if you ever had the old version of eTube, it actually has no known issues as does the new version. So unless you specifically uninstalled it.... it is still on your machine. I have both on mine. I just choose not to use the new till I hear they fixed the problem.