Hi in desperation I am posting here as there does not seem to be any category for jetson nano support.
I have purchased a jetson nano 4gb and as one would expect it would need to be updated. Unable to find instructions while trying to navigate the cryptic nvidia pages I resorted to youtube and apparently broke the software updating linux on the device, now all of the nvidia programs are not recognised.
Now I have installed the SDK manager on a host machine and connected the device in recovery mode. It connects and reflects in lsusb but SDK-manager with all the downloaded software for Jetpack 6 cannot detect it.
After more research I can flash it via host terminal using config files in the ‘L4T’ directory but now I’m getting ‘Invalid target board’. After looking at the module there is a ‘900-3448-0020-000’ number which I deduce would be board number ‘P3448-0020’ which does not exist in the ‘L4T’ folder of .conf files, only ‘37…’ numbers. There doesn’t seem to be a way to obtain the correct board number from the device and obtain the correct .conf file which the SDK-manager failed to acquire? The box the unit came in has only a SKU number and ‘JETSON-NANO-DEV-KIT-8-EU’, and a barcode. No booklet, no other writing anywhere.
Is there a way to fix this? Can you recommend a techinician local to me to help? Or should I just chuck it in the bin?
I hope people will learn from my mistakes and horrible experience.
Jetson Nano is End of Life. It will stay at Jetpack 4 forever. From a developer perspective it is basically dead. Period. Nano modules are only sold for existing projects. New projects should only use Orin Nano or Orin NX.
For reflashing a Nano you must use a bare metal Ubuntu 18.04 machine. No virtual machine, no newer OS. As a rule of thumb the version of the PC Ubuntu and the Jetpack Ubuntu version should match (maybe ± one revision). Then select the latest Jetpack 4, and this should work.
Ok thanks fchkjwlsq. Before reading your post I installed a ubuntu 18.04 vm and SDK manager. The process went a lot smoother until 99% of flash, which I assume is because of the vm. What boggles me is why it would connect and work and then stop at the end. Anyways now I need to find an ubuntu 18.04 host machine. This information would be really useful before purchasing the device.
I honestly thought Jetson nano and orin nano were the same thing, another gem of info that was kept from me until your post.
Also, imagine a button on the SDK manager that says ‘Re-install from local SD’ when in recovery mode!
Anyways thanks for the information.
Yes, VMs are a trap. The Jetson board reboots multiple times within the flash process, and most VM hosts take too long to reconnect the USB connection. Been there as well.
Wouldn’t work. The whole boot and recovery process is done by the Boot and Power Management Processor (BPMP), which is a separate Cortex R5 core with its own firmware. The whole process is designed for enabling Secure Boot and Full Disk Encryption and is much more complex than it seems at first.
I’m not sure if you should put in more time into a dead platform that you won’t be able to purchase in a few months. With Orin Nano you will get Jetpack 6 and software support until at least 2027.