Advanced flashing guide

The guide for experienced users

The alternative flashing guide is intended to be used if you encounter problems with the recommended guide. This guide is more general and should also work with boards from other vendors and requires a few more steps. In this guide, you will download the core operating system from NVIDIA with the SDK manager and only download the files that need to be changed for your carrier board from Auvidea.

Before you start

• Please make sure to use a Linux host PC with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (other versions may work, but some caused issues in the past!) operating system. Please use a native setup (no virtual machine). This host PC should have a high bandwidth internet connection for the download of 2 GB+ installation file in the following steps.

• You should make sure that Python 2.x is installed, as it is required for the NVIDIA SDK Manager. You can check your installation in the command line with: python --version example return: Python 2.7.17. If you do not get a return or error, you do not have Python 2.x installed. Please use: sudo apt install python to install Python 2.x to your system)

• You will also need a high-quality standard USB 2.0 Type A to micro-USB 2.0 cable.

• If you are using an AGX Orin please see the Flashing the AGX Orin section, as additional steps are required.

Install and configure NVIDIA SDK manager

• Download and install the Nvidia SDK manager for Ubuntu

• Install Jetpack 4.6 and up for your Jetson module (AGX Xavier)

Device	Example
Host PC

• Skip the flashing process after installation. This step is necessary to set up your file system and contents of your Host PC. Do not flash with this configuration! Specific steps need to be performed to enable all functionality of your carrier board, as described in the following steps.

Device	Example
Host PC

Download installation files from Auvidea

The following steps are necessary to enable all features of the Auvidea carrier board.

It is possible to skip these steps and flash your system without them. But then you will only be able to use basic functionality like 1080p HDMI, some USB ports, Ethernet.

Without these steps 4k HDMI, PCIe ports, some USB ports, CSI, CAN, … will not work, we strongly recommend to follow it if possible.

• Download our latest firmware for your carrier board

• Extract the downloaded tar ball from our website

Device	Example
Host PC	extract files tar xvf <your_downloaded_tar>.tar.bz2

• Change directory into the extracted files and extract the "kernel_out.tar.bz2"

Device	Example
Host PC	extract files cd <your_extracted_downloaded_tar> tar xvf kernel_out.tar.bz2#

• Copy the extracted kernel_out folder into your jetpack 4.6 (or up) L4t (Linux for Tegra) folder. Usual File path: /home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_<Jetpack_version>_Linux_<Jetson_module>/Linux_for_Tegra

Device	Example
Host PC	copy image content rsync -axHAWX --numeric-ids --info=progress2./kernel_out/<Jetpack_L4T_folder>

Flashing the AGX Orin

If you want to flash a AGX Orin the following steps should be followed additionally to the flashing guide from above. Other modules (like AGX Xavier, Nano, Nano NX, …) do not need those additional steps and you should continue with the next step.

Future installation packages from Auvidea should already include the following changes. In that case, you can use the following steps as a check or implement them yourself when skipping the Auvidea installation files.

AGX Orin Jetpack compatibility

When flashing an AGX Orin production module, the Jetpack version 5.0 GA must be used.

The Jetpack versions 5.0 DP and 5.0.1 DP do not work!

Necessary changes

Independent of the used AGX Orin version, you must make the following changes.

These changes must be done in the file system of the Host PC before flashing it to the AGX Orin module.

Usual File path:

/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_<Jetpack_version>_Linux_<Jetson_module>/Linux_for_Tegra/ bootloader/tegra234-mb2-bct-common.dtsi

Operation	In tegra234-mb2-bct-common.dtsi
Replace	cvb_eeprom_read_size = <0x100>
Replace with	cvb_eeprom_read_size = <0x0>

Also, the ODMDATA must be changed.

Usual File path:

/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_<Jetpack_version>_Linux_<Jetson_module>/Linux_for_Tegra/ p3701.conf.common

Operation	In p3701.conf.common
Set	ODMDATA="gbe-uphy-config-0,hsstp-lane-map-3,nvhs-uphy-config-0,hsio-uphy-config-16"

Flashing of system

• Connect a USB 2 micro-USB cable to the Jetson bevor powering it up

• After connecting to the host PC, power up your Jetson. This will put the system in to flashing mode (also called force recovery mode) with a connected Host PC. In some cases, you will have to manually press the force recovery mode button or short pins to enter force recovery mode. For example, with the JN30D you will need to short Pins 7 & 8 of J32 to enter force recovery. A simple way is to use tweezers or jumpers. Please see the Technical Reference Manual for a detailed pin description.

• Check that the connection is established with the lsusb command. You should find one entry with Nvidia Corp. as highlighted below.

Device	Example
Host PC	lsusb
Terminal host PC (example)

• Open your terminal in the <Jetpakc_L4T_folder> folder, if you are not already in it.

• You can now flash your system using the following command

Device	Example
Host PC	sudo ./flash <your_module> mmcblk0p1

Module name	<your_module>
Jetson Nano	jetson-nano-emmc
Jetson AGX-Xavier	jetson-xavier
Jetson Xavier NX	jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc
Jetson TX2 NX	jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-tx2-nx
…	…

(If you are following the native SSD boot flashing guide. The following command needs to be changed, as described in the chapter.)

• Please connect a monitor to the system. After the flashing process has completed, the system should automatically boot and show the Ubuntu desktop.

Device	Example
HDMI monitor Jetson system

You now have a functioning system ready for your needs.

• Please also see 2.5 Maintaining functionality

Installing additional NVIDIA SDK components

• Now you can install additional NVIDIA SDK components. Please connect the system to the internet. Use apt-get to install the components. If this fails, please check the Internet connection of the system.

Device	Example
Jetson system	install_jetpack.sh sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nvidia-jetpack
Terminal Jetson system example