Flashing Support ¶
Use
flash.sh
to flash a Jetson device with Bootloader
and the kernel, and optionally, flash the root file system to an internal or external storage device.
Use
l4t_initrd_flash.sh
to flash internal or external media connected to a Jetson device. This script uses the recovery initial ramdisk to do the flashing, and can flash internal and external media using the same procedure. Because this script uses the kernel for flashing, it is generally faster than
flash.sh
. See
Flashing with Initrd
for more details.
Before You Begin ¶
The following directories must be present:
-
bootloader
: Bootloader plus flashing tools, such as TegraFlash, CFG, and BCT -
kernel
: A kernel image/Image
, DTB files, and kernel modules -
rootfs
: The root file system that you downloadedThis directory starts empty. You populate it with the sample file system.
-
nv_tegra: User space binaries and sample applications
Additionally, before running these commands, you must connect your host computer to the Jetson device’s recovery port with a USB cable.
Basic Flashing Script Usage ¶
Display the current usage information for
flash.sh
by running
flash.sh
–h
, using the script included in the release. The basic usage is:
$ sudo ./flash.sh [options]
Where:
-
options
is one or more command line options. All of the options are optional. See Flashing Script Usage for information about the options. -
flash.sh
gets the configuration from a configuration file named.conf -
mmcblk0p1
to flash a local storage device (eMMC or SD card, depending on platform), as distinguished from an NFS server, for example.
Basic Flashing Procedures ¶
This section describes some common procedures for flashing one or more target devices.
Installing the Flash Requirements ¶
-
Run the following command:
$ sudo tools/l4t_flash_prerequisites.sh
Flashing the Target Device ¶
-
Put the target device into Force Recovery Mode.
-
Power on the carrier board and hold down the RECOVERY button.
-
Press the RESET button.
-
-
Run the
flash.sh
script that is in the top-level directory of BSP for this release. The command line must specify the target board (e.g.jetson-agx-xavier-devkit
) for the root file system:$ sudo ./flash.sh
Where:
-
For examples, run the script like this:
$ sudo ./flash.sh mmcblk0p1
To flash using a convenient script ¶
NVIDIA provides a convenient flashing script which automatically detects the Jetson device’s type of carrier board:
$ sudo ./nvsdkmanager_flash.sh [--storage ]
Where
--storage
is supported on Jetson Xavier NX series and Jetson AGX Xavier series only. It can be
nvme0n1p1
for flashing to an external NVMe SSD, or
sda1
for flashing to an external USB storage drive.
On Jetson Xavier NX series, flashing with the
--storage
option flashes only QSPI and external NVMe or USB storage; it does not flash the internal eMMC/SD storage.
To flash the target device to mount a rootfs specified by UUID ¶
-
For an internal storage device (e.g. eMMC or an SD card), enter the command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
internal This command stores the UUID used for the root file system partition in the file
bootloader/l4t-rootfs-uuid.txt
. You may specify your own UUID by writing the UUID to this file before executing the command above. -
For an external stage device (e.g. an NVMe or USB device), enter the command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
external This command stores the UUID used for the root file system partition in the file
bootloader/l4t-rootfs-uuid.txt_ext
. You may specify your own UUID by writing the UUID to this file before executing the command above.
To flash the target device to mount a rootfs specified by partition device name ¶
-
For a partition on a USB storage device connected to the Jetson device, enter this command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
sda -
For a partition on an NVMe storage device connected to the Jetson device, enter this command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
nvme0n1p Where:
-
-
APP
partition’s position on the storage device, e.g.sda1
for a USB device, ornvme0n1p1
for an NVMe storage device.
-
To clone a Jetson device and flash ¶
-
Copy
system.img
from the file system partition you want to flash from. Enter the command:$ sudo ./flash.sh -r -k APP -G
mmcblk0p1 Where:
This step creates two copies of
.raw For example, if
original.img
,flash.sh
creates a sparsed image namedoriginal.img
and an exact copy namedoriginal.img.raw
. -
-
Copy
.img /bootloader/system.img $ sudo cp
.img bootloader/system.img -
Flash the image to the target board.
-
If the target board has already been flashed, reflash the clone image to the
APP
partition. Enter the command:$ sudo ./flash.sh -r -k APP
mmcblk0p1 -
If the target board has never been flashed, flash all of the board’s partitions. Enter the command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -r
mmcblk0p1
Note
If root file system of the source device for clone is resized during
oem-config
, the eMMC configuration file of destination device must be updated accordingly. For example, withjetson-agx-orin-devkit
, root file system (APP
) is the final partition beforesecondary_gpt
. If theAPP
is resized to maximum allowed size, theallocation_attribute
ofAPP
partition inLinux_for_Tegra/bootloader/t186ref/cfg/flash_t234_qspi_sdmmc.xml
must be updated from 0x8 to 0x808. -
To back up and restore a Jetson device ¶
NVIDIA provides tools for creating a backup image of a Jetson device and restoring the Jetson from a backup image.
Backing up a Jetson device differs from cloning one (see
To clone a Jetson device and flash
) because a backup image includes every partition in the device’s internal eMMC and QSPI memory, while a clone contains only the
APP
file system partition.
The tools for backing up and restoring a Jetson device are in this directory in the BSD:
/Linux_for_Tegra/tools/backup-restore/
Instructions for backing up and restoring a device are in the file
README_backup_restore.txt
in the same directory.
To RCM boot to NFS ¶
Note
To create a bootable NFS root file system, you must first:
-
Perform the process described in Step 1: Set Up the Root File System
-
Perform the process described in Configuring NFS Root on the Linux Host
-
Put the device into reset/recovery mode.
-
Power on the carrier board and hold down the RECOVERY button.
-
Press the RESET button.
-
-
Enter the command:
$ sudo./flash.sh -N
: --rcm-boot eth0 Where:
-
Flashing Script Usage ¶
This section complements
Basic Flashing Script Usage
by providing
detailed information about
flash.sh
command line options and other
aspects of
flash.sh
usage.
Command line option |
Description |
---|---|
-c |
Pathname of a flash partition table configuration file. |
-d |
Pathname of a device tree file. |
-f |
Name of the flash application to be used. Flash
applications are stored in the bootloader
directory. The default flash application is
|
-h |
Prints descriptions of the command line syntax and command line options. |
-k |
Partition name or number specified in
|
-m |
Name of the MTS preboot file to be used, such as
|
-n |
Static NFS network assignments:
|
-o |
ODM data. |
-p |
Total eMMC hardware boot partition size. |
-r |
Skips building
|
-t |
Pathname of a tegraboot binary, such as
|
-u |
Pathname of a file containing the PKC key used for an ODM fused board. |
-v |
Pathname of a file containing the Secure Boot Key (SBK) used for an ODM fused board. |
-w |
Pathname of a warm boot binary, such as
|
-x |
Processor chip ID. The default value is:
|
-z |
Serial number of the target board. |
-B |
Board ID. |
-C |
Kernel command line arguments. If this option is
specified, it overrides the default values defined
for
Kernel command line arguments are documented in the
file
In the case of NFS booting, use this option to set
NFS boot-related arguments if the
|
-F |
Pathname of a flash server, such as
|
-G |
Reads the boot partition and saves the image to the specified file. |
-I |
Pathname of the initrd file. The default value is null. |
-K |
Pathname of a kernel image file such as
|
-L |
Pathname of a boot loader, such as
|
-M |
Pathname of an MTS boot file, such as
|
-N |
NFS root address, such as
|
-R |
Pathname of the sample rootfs directory. |
-S |
Size of the rootfs in bytes. Valid only for an internal root device.
KB/MB/GB suffixes represent units of 1000,
1000
2
, and 1000
3
. The suffixes
For example,
|
–bup |
Generates Bootloader update payload (BUP). |
–clean-up |
Cleans up the BUP buffer when the script is flashing a multi-spec BUP. |
–multi-spec |
Enables support for building a multi-spec BUP. |
–no-flash |
Performs all steps except physically flashing the
board. The script creates a
|
–no-systemimg |
Prevents creation or re-creation of
|
–sparseupdate |
Only flash partitions that have changed. Currently supports only SPI flash memory. |
–usb-instance |
USB instance to connect to;
|
–user_key |
Pathname of a file that contains a user key that can be used to encrypt
and decrypt kernel, kernel-dtb,
and initrd binary images. If
|
–sparseupdate |
only flash partitions that have changed. Currently only SPI flash memory is supported. |
How to find usb-instance ¶
The flash.sh script supports a usb-instance to flash a specific Jetson on a host that has multiple Jetson in recovery mode. This section provides information about how you can find out which usb-instance to use.
-
Place all devices into recovery mode.
-
Run the following command:
$ grep
/sys/bus/usb/devices/*/idProduct where
idProduct
is the ID for usb id for recovery mode of the device. For example, 7023 for Jetson AGX Orin and 7019 for Jetson AGX Xavier.The result will be something like the following:
/sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1.1/idProduct:7019
1-1.1 is the usb-instance number you want to use to specify which device you want to flash
Flashing to a USB Drive ¶
Jetson devices can be booted from a mass storage class USB device with bulk-only protocol, such as a flash drive. Hot plugging is not supported; the flash drive must be attached before the Jetson device is booted. You can manually set up a flash drive for booting as explained in To set up a flash drive manually for booting .
All Jetson devices can boot from internal storage using a boot partition and can mount an external USB drive as the root file system.
NVIDIA provides a way to simplify flashing to a USB drive that is connected to a Jetson device. For details, see To set up a USB drive as a boot device or root file system using flash with initrd .
Note
Jetson AGX Xavier series devices use boot firmware that is stored only on internal eMMC memory, and the
esp
partition on internal eMMC memory is also required. As a result, this type of device can boot from a USB or an NVMe drive
only
if the drive’s internal eMMC has been flashed.
To set up a flash drive manually for booting ¶
-
Confirm that the device can boot successfully from eMMC. If it cannot, correct the problem by flashing to eMMC first.
-
Connect the flash drive to the host computer.
-
Check the flash drive’s device name (e.g.
/dev/sdb
):$ sudo lsblk -p -d | grep sd
-
Run the command:
$ sudo
./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh [ -S ] -c --external-device sda1 --direct external Where
-
-
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml
. -
-
You can also specify
-
If you run the command without a device in recovery mode plugged in, you will have to specify it.
For example, if the host computer assigns the flash drive device name
sdb
, the command for Jetson AGX Orin is:$ sudo BOARDID=3701 BOARDSKU=0000 FAB=TS4 ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh -c tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml --external-device sda1 --direct sdb jetson-agx-orin-devkit external
By default,
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml
only supports a 64GiB SD card and above. If you want to flash a 32GiB SD card, you will need to modify the num_sectors field inLinux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml
so that num_sectors * 512 = 32GiB. The command to run is:$ sudo BOARDID=3701 BOARDSKU=0000 FAB=TS4 ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh -c tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml -S 20GiB --external-device sda1 --direct sdb jetson-agx-orin-devkit external
You have to specify
-
Note
For more information, read Workflow 11 in the README_initrd_flash.txt file, which is in the
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash
directory.
-
Plug the flash drive into the target device and power it on or reboot it.
-
If your device still boots from its internal storage, you may need to modify the UEFI’s boot-order using
efibootmgr
or UEFI GUI.
To set up a flash drive manually for using as root file system ¶
-
Prepare the flash drive similarly to
-
Flash the Jetson device to mount the external flash drive:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
sda1
To prepare files to boot from a flash drive with Secure Boot ¶
When the
Secureboot
package is installed, the kernel file
/boot/Image
must be signed, and the signature file must be saved as
/boot/Image.sig
.
If you use
flash.sh
to flash a device with Secure Boot installed, the script automatically creates and stores the signature file. If you create a signature file manually, you must also save it manually. For more information, see the topic
Secure Boot
.
To set up a USB drive as a boot device or root file system using flash with initrd ¶
By flashing with initrd you can flash to an external USB device attached to a Jetson device. For more information, see Flashing to an External Storage Device .
Flashing to an NVMe Drive ¶
Jetson devices can be booted from an NVMe drive. Hot-plugging is not supported; the NVMe drive must be attached before the Jetson device is booted.
You can manually set up an NVMe drive for booting by following the steps in To set up an NVMe drive manually for booting .
All Jetson devices can boot from internal storage using a boot partition and mount an external NVMe drive as the root file system.
NVIDIA provides a way to simplify flashing to an NVMe drive that is connected to a Jetson device. For details, see To set up an NVMe drive as a boot device or root file system using flash with initrd .
Note
Jetson AGX Xavier series devices use boot firmware that is stored only on internal eMMC memory, and the
esp
partition on internal eMMC memory is also required. As a result, this type of device can boot from a USB or an NVMe drive
only
if the drive’s internal eMMC has been flashed.
To set up an NVMe drive manually for booting ¶
-
Confirm that the device can boot successfully from eMMC. If it cannot, correct the problem by flashing to eMMC first.
-
Connect the flash drive to the host computer.
-
Check the NVMe drive’s device name (e.g.
/dev/nvme0n1
):$ lsblk -d -p | grep nvme | cut -d\ -f 1
Note that there must be two spaces after the
-d\
. -
Run the command:
$ sudo
./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh [ -S ] -c --external-device nvme0n1p1 --direct external Where
-
-
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml
. -
-
You can also specify
-
If you run the command without a device in recovery mode plugged in, you will have to specify it.
For example, if the host computer assigns the flash drive device name
nvme1n1p1
, the command for Jetson AGX Orin is:$ sudo BOARDID=3701 BOARDSKU=0000 FAB=TS4 ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh -c tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml --external-device nvme0n1p1 --direct nvme1n1p1 jetson-agx-orin-devkit external
-
Note
For more information, read Workflow 11 in the README_initrd_flash.txt file, which is in the
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash
directory.
-
Plug the flash drive into the target device and power it on or reboot it.
-
If your device still boots from its internal storage, you might need to modify the UEFI’s boot-order using
efibootmgr
or the UEFI GUI.
To set up an NVMe drive manually for using as root file system ¶
-
Prepare the NVMe device similarly to
-
Flash your Jetson to mount the external NVMe drive:
$ sudo ./flash.sh
nvme0n1p1
To prepare files to boot from an NVMe drive with Secure Boot ¶
See To prepare files to boot from a flash drive with Secure Boot .
To set up an NVMe drive as a boot device or root file system using flash with initrd ¶
By flashing with initrd you can flash to an external NVMe SSD attached to a Jetson device. For more information, see Flashing to an External Storage Device .
Flashing to an SD Card ¶
Applies to : Jetson Xavier NX development module only
This section describes procedures for flashing and utilizing an SD card for a Jetson Xavier NX series module (P3668-0000 or P3668-0003). P3668-0000 is used only as a component of Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit.
Prerequisites ¶
-
Download Etcher for Linux. Etcher is the tool you use to copy an image to an SD card. It is available from the Balena Etcher home page .
Download Etcher for Linux x64 (64-bit) (AppImage). Make the downloaded file executable.
Note
NVIDIA recommends using Etcher to copy an image to an SD card because it is an easy and foolproof method. If you prefer, you can perform this operation with the Linux
dd
command. If you use this method, you need not download Etcher.
To generate an image to be flashed to an SD card ¶
Applies to : Jetson Xavier NX series only
-
If you have not already done so, expand the archive
linux_for_tegra.tbz2
. -
Go to the directory
Linux_for_Tegra/tools
. -
Enter the command:
$ ./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o
-b Where:
This command generates a raw image with partitions per the SPI-SD profile for a Jetson Xavier NX development module.
For example, to create a raw image file named
sd-blob.img
for use on a Jetson Xavier NX development module:$ ./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o sd-blob.img -b jetson-xavier-nx-devkit -r 100
-
The
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh
script supports use of a modified
rootfs. Thus, you can create an SD card image with a specified rootfs
directory:
$ ROOTFS_DIR= ./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o -b -r
To flash the image to an SD card with Etcher ¶
-
Insert the SD card into an SD card slot or an external SD card reader on your host system.
-
Launch Etcher and select the SD blob image file created by
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh
. -
Select the SD card to be flashed.
-
Click Flash to write the SD blob image to the SD card.
To flash the image to an SD card with dd ¶
-
Enter the command:
$ sudo dd if=
of=/dev/mmcblk bs=1M oflag=direct Where:
-
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh
. -
-
For example, to copy an image blob file named
sd-blob.img
from the
working directory to SD card block number 1:
$ sudo dd if=sd-blob.img of=/dev/mmcblk1 bs=1M oflag=direct
To resize the root partition to fill available SD card space ¶
The root partition is always created at the end of the boot device. This allows you to change its size without moving other partitions.
You change the size of the boot partition with the
resize2fs
tool, which
is run by
oem-config
the first time a newly copied image blob file is
booted from an SD card.
When a freshly initialized SD card is first booted it runs
oem-config
,
one of whose functions is to set the APP partition’s size. It does the
following things:
-
Moves the backup GPT header to the end of the disk
-
Deletes and re-creates the root partition
-
Informs the kernel and OS of the change in the partition table and root partition size
-
Resizes the file system on the root partition to fit the expected partition table and root partition size
To upgrade JetPack 4.x to JetPack 5.x on Jetson Xavier NX (P3668-0000) ¶
Applies to : Jetson Xavier NX (P3668-0000) only.
To upgrade Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit from JetPack 4.x to JetPack 5.x, complete the following steps:
-
Download JetPack 5.x QSPI image on Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit from JetPack Product Page .
-
Write the QSPI image into the QSPI device by entering the following commands:
$ sudo flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0 $ tar -xvf Jetson_Xavier_NX_QSPI_35.1.tbz2 jetson-xavier-nx-devkit.spi.img $ sudo flashcp jetson-xavier-nx-devkit.spi.img /dev/mtd0
-
Power off the Jetson device and unplug the SD card.
-
Write the SD card with the JetPack 5.x SD card image by completing the steps in Write Image to the microSD Card .
-
Plug the SD card back to the Jetson device and power it on.
To manually generate JetPack 5.x QSPI image, complete the following steps:
-
Download JetPack 5.x BSP package and extract it.
-
Go to the
Linux_for_Tegra
directory, and enter the following commands:$ cd Linux_for_Tegra $ sudo BOARDID=3668 FAB=300 BOARDSKU=0000 BOARDREV=1 FUSELEVEL=fuselevel_production CHIPREV=2 ./tools/l4t_generate_jetson_xavier_nx_qspi_images.sh -b jetson-xavier-nx-devkit
The QSPI image will be generated at
Linux_for_Tegra/bootloader/jetson-xavier-nx-devkit.spi.img
.
Warning
An unexpected reset or a power loss during updating QSPI image might break the device. If these issues occur, you have to reflash the device. Refer to the steps in the Basic Flashing Procedures .
Note
After you upgrade to JetPack 5.x, the only way to roll back to JetPack 4.x is to complete a reflash.
Flashing to an External Storage Device ¶
The
initrd
flashing tool supports flashing to an external storage device. For an overview of this tool, see
Flashing with initrd
.
To flash an external device, you must create an external partition layout. For information about this, see External Storage Device Partition in the topic Boot Architecture .
The devices that Jetson Linux supports as external storage devices are those
which appear in the Linux file system as SCSI devices (device name
/dev/sd*
) and NVMe devices (
/dev/nvme*n*
) in the Linux “dev” file system.
NVIDIA provides the necessary tools and instructions as part of the
Linux BSP package; they may be found in the directory
Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash
. For more detailed instructions, see
workflows 3, 4, and 5 in the file
README_initrd_flash.txt
in that
directory.
Flashing a Specific Partition ¶
You can flash a specific partition instead of flashing the whole device
by using the command line option
-k
.
To flash a specific partition ¶
-
Enter the command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -k
[--image ] Where:
-
-
flash.sh
chooses the image file that was used to flash whole device. -
-
-
Examples ¶
To flash the kernel on Jetson AGX Xavier series using the default file
, where
is the directory that contains the Jetson Linux distribution:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -k kernel jetson-xavier mmcblk0p1
To flash MB1_BCT on Jetson AGX Xavier series using a predefined list of configuration files:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -k MB1_BCT jetson-xavier mmcblk0p1
To flash A_MB1_BCT on Jetson AGX Orin series using a predefined list of configuration files:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -k A_MB1_BCT jetson-xavier mmcblk0p1
Flashing for NFS as Root ¶
You can flash the device to use a network file system (NFS) as the root file system.
Note
To create a bootable NFS root file system, you must first:
-
Perform the process described in Step 1: Set Up the Root File System
-
Perform the process described in Configuring NFS Root on the Linux Host
To flash for a network file system as root file system ¶
-
Put the device into Recovery Mode. Power the carrier board on; press and hold down the RECOVERY button, then press the RESET button.
-
Enter the command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -N
: eth0 Where:
The command flashes Bootloader and a file system image with a
/boot
directory only to use the network file system at:/ -
Flashing with initrd ¶
You can flash with initrd (initial RAM disk) to both internal media and external media connected to a Jetson device. The procedure uses initrd and USB device mode.
Tools and instructions for flashing with initrd may be found in the
directory
/Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/
. For more detailed
information, see
README_initrd_flash.txt
in the same directory.
README_initrd_flash.txt
contains examples several workflows that flash
with initrd:
-
Flashing internal storage devices
-
Flashing external storage devices such as NVMe SSD and USB drives
-
Enabling A/B rootfs on external storage devices
-
Enabling disk encryption on external storage devices
-
Flashing individual partitions
-
Flashing fused Jetson devices.
-
Flashing a Massflash blob to normal and fused Jetson devices
-
Generating separate images for external and internal storage devices, then flashing the combined images
Note
Jetson AGX Xavier series devices use boot firmware that is stored only on internal eMMC memory, and the
esp
partition on internal eMMC memory is also required. As a result, this type of device can boot from a USB or an NVMe drive
only
if the drive’s internal eMMC has been flashed.
Requirements ¶
-
Initrd flash requires a high-quality USB-C / micro-USB cable. (A low-quality cable may make the flashing process fail.)
-
The host uses NetworkManager, not any other network management application, to configure the network for flashing.
-
Automount must temporarily be disabled for the new external storage device during flashing. The tool uses USB mass storage during flashing.
On most Debian-based distributions of Linux, you can accomplish this with the command:
$ systemctl stop udisks2.service
-
To install the correct dependencies, run the following script:
$ sudo tools/l4t_flash_prerequisites.sh # For Debian-based Linux
-
To flash, the tool uses NFS and SSH through
IPv6
address spacefc00:1:1::/48
to flash.
Note
-
Ensure that your operating system and your firewall allows using the
IPv6
address space. -
The tool has been validated with Ubuntu 18.04 and later.”
Flashing with initrd ¶
-
Put the Jetson device in Recovery Mode.
-
Enter these commands on the host:
$ cd Linux_for_Tegra $ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh
Where:
-
BOARD
for the target device. See the Jetson Modules and Configurations table in Quick Start . -
-
Bringing Up the Jetson Module for the initrd Flash Tool ¶
-
Initrd flash is validated to work with the NVIDIA developer kit. For this tool to work on your custom carrier board with Jetson’s modules, ensure that a USB device mode has been enabled for your custom carrier board.
-
There are many cases where you want to customize the BSP. In some cases, it might cause the BSP fail to initrd flash the device. For these cases initrd flash support a separation of flashing environment and the content that is flashed:
-
Copy the original Linux_for_Tegra folder and call it Linux_for_Tegra_original.
-
Modify the BSP in the Linux_for_Tegra_modified folder.
-
Run the initrd flash command with the –no-flash option on the Linux_for_Tegra folder with the modified BSP. For example:
$ cd Linux_for_Tegra_modified $ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --no-flash --external-device nvme0n1p1 -c ./tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml --showlogs jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc nvme0n1p1
-
If necessary, remove the existing Linux_for_Tegra_original/tools/kernel_flash/images folder and copy the images in Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/images to the Linux_for_Tegra_original/tools/kernel_flash directory.
-
In the Linux_for_Tegra_original directory, run flash with the –use-backup-image option. For example:
$ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --use-backup-image --external-device nvme0n1p1 -c ./tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external.xml --showlogs jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc nvme0n1p1
Flashing to Multiple Jetson Devices ¶
Note
Massflash
tool has been deprecated, so use initrd flash instead.
As part of the tool in Flashing with initrd , NVIDIA provides a tool and instructions to efficiently flash Jetson devices in a factory environment. To flash to multiple Jetson devices with this tool:
-
Generate
massflash
package using the--no-flash
and--massflash
and--network usb0
options, whereis the highest possible number of devices that will be concurrently flashed.
The online mode and offline mode are supported. In the following example, the offline mode is used to create a flashing environment that can concurrently flash five devices:
$ sudo BOARDID= FAB= BOARDSKU= BOARDREV= ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --no-flash --network usb0 --massflash 5 jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc mmcblk0p1
(For the value of BOARDID, FAB, BOARDSKU and BOARDREV, please refer to Devices Supported By This Document and Flashing with initrd )
-
Connect the five Jetson devices to the flashing hosts.
-
Ensure that the devices have the identical hardware revision.
-
Place all of the connected Jetson devices into RCM mode.
-
Run the following command:
$ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --flash-only --network usb0 --massflash 5 (Optionally add --showlogs to show all of the log)
Note
the actual number of connected devices can be less than the maximum number of devices the package can support.
When you use this tool, here are some tips to remember:
-
The tool provides the
--keep
option to keep the flash environment, and the--reuse
options to reuse the flash environment that makesmassflash
run faster:
Massflash the first time:
$ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --flash-only --network usb0 --massflash 5 --keepMassflash the second time:
$ sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --flash-only --network usb0 --massflash 5 --reuse
-
Use
ionice
to make the flash process the highest I/O priority in the system:$ sudo ionice -c 1 -n 0 ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --network usb0 --flash-only --massflash 5
Enlarging an Internal Memory Partition for Root File System ¶
Use the
flash.sh
option
-S
to change the partition size.
To flash for a larger partition ¶
-
Execute the following command:
$ sudo ./flash.sh -S
Where:
-
8589934592
(or8GiB
) for 8 GB . The default size ofAPP
is defined in the variableROOTFSSIZE
in the file.conf -
-
-
Determining the Success of a Driver Update ¶
After updating drivers on a target board, verify that the update completed successfully. You can determine the success or failure of a driver update by using the following commands.
To determine the success of a driver update ¶
-
Execute this command on a booted target device:
$ sha1sum –c /etc/nv_tegra_release
If the driver update succeeded, the command displays OK after the file name. A typical success message looks like this:
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so: OK
The driver update fails if the file is missing. A typical error message looks like this:
sha1sum: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so: No such file or directory
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so: FAILED open or read
The driver update also fails if the new file is different from the existing file, producing an error such as:
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so: FAILED
Reconfiguring a Jetson Device with oem-config ¶
A target device that is flashed by SDK Manager runs the
oem-config
tool
automatically the first time it boots after it is flashed. You can use
this tool to change some parts of the device’s configuration.
oem-config
is useful for custom-configuring production devices.
In a typical use case, you flash a default configuration and clone it to
many production devices. The purchaser of each device can use
oem-config
to set their own username and password, language, time zone, and so on.
On a
headed
target device (one equipped with a display),
oem-config
runs as a GUI application. On a
headless
target device (one without
a display), it runs as a character interface application which communicates through the flashing port with a terminal program running on the host.
After the target device runs
oem-config
on first boot, it disables the
tool so that it will not run on subsequent boots. If you install your
own package and flash the target device manually (outside SDK Manager),
you must re-enable
oem-config
manually if you want it to run on the
first subsequent boot. Again, the target device disables
oem-config
after running it once.
To re-enable oem-config manually on a flash drive ¶
-
Select a source device of the same type as the target device(s), on which all necessary packages have been installed.
-
Install these packages on the source device to enable
oem-config
for the next reboot:ubiquity
,oem-config
, andoem-config-gtk
. Enter this command:$ sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubiquity oem-config oem-config-gtk
-
Remove the package nvidia-l4f-oem-config:
$ sudo dpkg --purge nvidia-l4t-oem-config
-
Clone the source device’s
APP
partition tobackup.img
andbackup.img.raw
. For details, see To clone a Jetson device and flash . -
Mount
backup.img.raw
(an ext4 image file) on the host at a mount point of your choice. -
Apply any required Jetson-specific binaries to the image file. The
nv-oem-config
setup files are included inapply_binaries.sh
. To run this script, enter:$ cd Linux_for_Tegra $ sudo ./apply_binaries.sh -r
Where
backup.img.raw
mount point. -
Set
nv-oem-config.target
as thedefault.target
:$ cd $root/etc/systemd/system $ sudo rm default.target $ sudo ln -s /lib/systemd/system/nv-oem-config.target default.target
-
Unmount the device mounted in step 5:
$ umount $root
-
Make a sparse version of the updated image file
backup.img.raw
and name itsystem.img
:$ cd Linux_for_Tegra/bootloader/ $ sudo ./mksparse -v –fillpattern=0 /path/to/backup.img.raw system.img
-
Flash
system.img
to the target device(s). For details, see To clone a Jetson device and flash .
To re-enable oem-config manually on an SD card ¶
-
Select a source device of the same type as the target device(s) on which all necessary packages have been installed.
-
Enter this command to install the following packages on the source device to enable
oem-config
for the next reboot: ubiquity,oem-config
, and oem-config-gtk:$ sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubiquity oem-config oem-config-gtk
-
Remove the package
nvidia-l4f-oem-config
:$ sudo dpkg --purge nvidia-l4t-oem-config
-
Power off the source device and remove the SD card from it, then insert it into in the host system.
-
Mount partition #1 of the SD card (an ext4 file system) on the host, using a mount point of your choice.
-
Apply any required Jetson-specific binaries to partition #1 of the SD card. The appropriate files are listed in
nv-oem-config
, and are applied byapply_binaries.sh
. Enter these commands to run the script:$ cd Linux_for_Tegra $ sudo ./apply_binaries.sh -r
Where
-
Set
nv-oem-config.target
as the default.target:$ cd $root/etc/systemd/system $ sudo rm default.target $ sudo ln -s /lib/systemd/system/nv-oem-config.target default.target
-
Run
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh
to create a new SD card image with a modified rootfs:$ cd Linux_for_Tegra/tools $ sudo ROOTFS_DIR=
./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o sd-blob.img -b jetson-nano-devkit -r 100 Where
-
Enter this command to unmount the device mounted in step 5:
$ umount $root
-
Flash
sd-blob.img
to the new SD card. For details, see Flashing to an SD Card .
About Communication Through the Debugging Port ¶
The terminal program on the host computer customarily communicates
with
oem-config
through the host computer’s
tty
device and the Jetson
device’s flashing port (i.e. the USB port that is used for flashing). See
Assumptions
in the topic
Quick Start
.)
Some Jetson developer kits also have a UART port on a 40-pin header. You
can edit the
oem-config
configuration file to make
oem-config
use this
port instead. You must make this change before you flash images on the
target device.
To configure oem-config to use a 40-pin header UART port ¶
-
Open the configuration file
/etc/nv-oem-config.conf.t194 nv-oem-config-uart-port=ttyGS0
-
Change the value of this property from
ttyGS0
tottyTHS0
. -
Save and close the configuration file.
-
Proceed to flash the target device as described elsewhere in this topic.
Headless Mode Flow in oem-config ¶
Before the target system boots for the first time, you must start a
terminal program on the host computer. You may use
putty
,
screen
, or
any other program that communicates through the host
computer’s
tty
device and supports the UTF-8 character set.
Note
NVIDIA does not recommend using minicom for this application because it has some issues dealing with UTF-8.
When the target device boots for the first time after flashing and finds
no display device, it runs
oem-config
in headless mode. Use the
following procedure to reconfigure the target device.
To reconfigure the target device with oem-config ¶
-
oem-config
displays a welcome screen. To advance to the next screen, press Tab, then Enter. -
oem-config
displays the license that governs its use. Read the license, then accept it by pressing Tab, then Enter. -
oem-config
displays a screen that lists languages. Use the up and down-arrow keys to select the language you want to use for the installation process. Then press the left and right-arrow keys to select “OK,” and press Enter.
Note
To go back from any screen to the preceding one, select “Cancel” and press Enter. You can go back more than one screen by doing this more than once.
-
oem-config
displays a screen that lists locations in which the language you selected is used. Select your location; then select “OK” and press Enter. -
oem-config
displays a screen that lists keyboard layouts. Select your keyboard’s layout, then select “OK” and press Enter. -
oem-config
displays a screen that lists time zones that exist in the location you select. Select your time zone, then select “OK” and press Enter.If your time zone is not listed, select “Cancel” as many times as necessary to go back to the screen that lists locations, and choose a different location.
-
oem-config
asks whether you want to set the system clock to Universal coordinated Time (UTC, or Greenwich Mean Time). Linux expects the system clock to be set to UTC, so NVIDIA recommends that you select “Yes” and press Enter. -
oem-config
asks you to enter your name. Enter your full name (for example,John Smith
), select OK , and press Enter. -
oem-config
asks you to enter a username for your user account.oem-config
creates a user account with this name. Select “OK” and press Enter.NVIDIA suggests using your first name, in lower case letters only. Use this account instead of the root account for anything other than administrative activities.
-
oem-config
asks you to enter a password for your user account. Enter a password, then select “OK” and press Enter.NVIDIA recommends that you choose a strong password, for example, one that is more than eight characters long and contains at least one each of upper and lower case letters, numerals, and other characters. If you enter a weak password,
oem-config
asks you to confirm that you want to use it. -
oem-config
asks you to enter your password again to confirm that you entered it correctly. If you enter the same password both times, it sets the password and goes on to the next step. If not, it prompts you to enter a password again. -
oem-config
prompts you to create and enable a 4 GB swap file. It first displays a message which summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of doing so:Read the message and decide whether to create a swap file. Then press Enter to advance to the next screen:
To create and enable a swap file, select “Yes” and press Enter. To skip this step, select “No” and press Enter.
Note
As the “Create Swap File” screen explains, NVIDIA recommends that you create and enable a swap file if you plan to use your Jetson device for artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning applications.
Note that having a swap file may shorten the life of your SD card, due to increased writes to the medium.
If you do not create a swap file in
oem-config
, you can later create one manually as described in To create and enable a swap file manually .
-
oem-config
prompts you to specify the desired size of the APP partition in megabytes. To request the maximum possible size, leave the field empty or enter 0 (zero).
To request the maximum possible size, leave the field empty or enter
0
(zero).Note
This is only for Jetson AGX Orin and Jetson Xavier NX. For the other Jetson devices, you can of course enlarge the
APP
partition statically with flash option-S
.
-
oem-config
displays a list of interfaces which it can use as the primary network interface during installation.If you are using Ethernet as the primary network interface, make sure that the Ethernet cable is connected. Then select the
eth0: Ethernet
option, select “OK,” and press Enter.
Note
Due to a known wireless network configuration bug in
oem-config
, you must either enter the SSID manually instead of selecting it from the list, or wait until after initial setup is complete, then use thenmcli
command to configure wireless networking. For more details, see the ubuntu.com documentation page Configure WiFi Connections .
-
oem-config
prompts you to enter your host computer’s host name. If you don’t know the host’s name, ask your network administrator. If you are setting up a dedicated network, you may choose any name. Enter the host name, then select “OK,” and press Enter. -
oem-config
prompts you to install Chromium Browser right now. Internet connection is required for installation, and it will take several minutes to install.Read the message and decide whether to install Chromium Browser. Then press Enter to advance to the next screen:
To install Chromium Browser, select “Yes” and press Enter. To skip this step, select “No” and press Enter.
-
oem-config
reconfigures the system with the selections you have made, then proceeds to the system’s log-in prompt.
To create and enable a swap file manually ¶
This procedure is an alternative to step 12 of To reconfigure the target device with oem-config . You may perform it at any time after you run oem-config.
-
To create the swap file, enter the commands:
$ sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile $ sudo chmod 600 /swapfile $ sudo mkswap /swapfile $ sudo swapon /swapfile
-
To automount the swap file on boot, open
/etc/fstab
in a text editor, add this line, and save:/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
Note
The fields in this line may be separated by any combination and number of tabs and spaces. NVIDIA recommends spacing the fields to align with the fields in the file’s other lines.
Skipping oem-config ¶
If you don’t want to run
oem-config
to set up your system, you can make the first-time boot process skip it by running the host script
l4t_create_default_user.sh
before you flash. The boot process runs
oem-config
if no default user is defined;
l4t_create_default_user.sh
creates a default user, and thus prevents
oem-config
from running.
The script’s usage is:
$ l4t_create_default_user.sh [-u ] [-p ] [-n ] [-a] [-h]
This table describes the command line options:
Command line option |
Description |
---|---|
-u
–username |
Creates a default user with the specified
username. If omitted, the script creates
a default user named
|
-p
–password |
Creates the default user with the specified password. If omitted, the script generates a random password. |
-n
–hostname |
Creates the default user with the
specified host name. If omitted, the
script uses the host name
|
-a –autologin |
Configures Jetson Linux to log in to the default user automatically when booted. If omitted, the user must log in manually. |
–accept-license |
Accepts the EULA for NVIDIA software. If omitted, the script prompts you to accept the EULA. |
-h –help |
Prints a description of the script’s usage. |
Examples ¶
-
Create a user named
nvidia
with the passwordNDZjMWM4
and the host nametegra-ubuntu
:$ l4t_create_default_user.sh -u nvidia -p NDZjMWM4
-
Create a user named
ubuntu
with a randomly generated password and the host nametegra-ubuntu
, and configures Jetson Linux to log in to it automatically at boot:$ l4t_create_default_user.sh -u ubuntu -a
-
Create a user named
nvidia
with a randomly generated password and the host nametegra
:$ l4t_create_default_user.sh -n tegra
Modifying Jetson RAM Disk ¶
Use the following procedure to modify the default configuration of a Jetson device’s RAM disk.
To modify RAM disk ¶
-
Unpack your initrd:
$ sudo su $ cp /boot/initrd /tmp $ mkdir /tmp/temp $ cd /tmp/temp $ gunzip -c /tmp/initrd | cpio -i
-
Modify your initrd content in the
tmp/temp/
directory according to your needs -
Package your initrd:
$ sudo su $ cd /tmp/temp $ find . | cpio -H newc -o | gzip -9 -n > ../initrd
-
Replace the initrd with your customized initrd:
$ cp /tmp/initrd /boot/initrd