Flash AGX Xavier from Ubuntu 20.04, errors?

[jiapei1]

I was trying to flash AGX Xavier from my host computer with Ubuntu 20.04, but obtained the following error messages:

I know that it might not be a good idea that I flash from Ubuntu 20.04. However, I’ve got NO Ubuntu 18.04 or 16.04 at hand. Did anybody successfully flash AGX Xavier under Ubuntu 20.04 by command line, without that headache SDK Manager?

Thank you very much

Pei

[linuxdev]

Note that if your flash software is installed from running SDKM once, then you will have this directory:
~/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack...version.../Linux_for_Tegra/

Within that directory, if the content of “Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/” is fully populated, then it is simple to flash on command line. However, this does not install any optional packages, e.g., CUDA cannot be installed with this. Also, if “rootfs/” is not properly filled, then flash would work, but would not install a working system. If all is set up, and you just want to flash, then you could try this from “Linux_for_Tegra/”:
sudo ./flash.sh jetson-xavier mmcblk0p1
…or if you wish to log command line flash:
sudo ./flash.sh jetson-xavier mmcblk0p1 2>&1 | tee log_flash.txt

Also note that even when using SDKM on a proper Ubuntu 18.04 host PC that flash occurs entirely with the AGX Xavier in recovery mode, but when flash completes the Jetson will reboot and first boot account setup occurs; following this SDKM would install any optional packages, e.g., CUDA, using the fully booted Jetson via ethernet. If you disable flashing, and use an already flashed Jetson, then you can pick to only install optional packages to the AGX Xavier and skip host PC or many other steps which are incompatible with Ubuntu 20.04 hosts. It isn’t always obvious that some parts of the SDKM flash software can be unchecked.

It won’t necessarily work, but there is also a thread about getting SDKM to think it is on an 18.04 host:
https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1048748/jetson-tx2/sdkmanager-quot-not-supported-on-linux-quot-/post/5324501/#5324501

[jiapei1]

I strictly follow the description https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/l4t/index.html.

And from the prompt, I can see that

sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-xavier-devkit mmcblk0p1
......
*** The target t186ref has been flashed successfully. ***
Reset the board to boot from internal eMMC.

sudo ./flash.sh -r -k kernel-dtb jetson-agx-xavier-devkit mmcblk0p1
......
[   7.3685 ] 
*** The [kernel-dtb] has been updated successfully. ***

sudo ./flash.sh -r -k bpmp-fw-dtb jetson-agx-xavier-devkit mmcblk0p1
......
[   7.3672 ] 
*** The [bpmp-fw-dtb] has been updated successfully. ***

sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-xavier-devkit mmcblk1p1
......
[  18.7384 ] 
*** The target t186ref has been flashed successfully. ***
Make the target filesystem available to the device and reset the board to boot from external mmcblk1p1.

It looks I can boot from eMMC, but with very limited number of commands …

hmmm…

[WayneWWW]

Your rootfs is corrupted, so you only boot the initrd. And that is why you only has limited commands.

Where do you get your L4T package? Do you install anything to it ? Or you just download and just keep flashing?

BTW, actually your flash commands have no effect to the flash result, except the first command…

[jiapei1]

@jiapei1

sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-xavier-devkit mmcblk0p1

Hey, Thank you for your reply @WayneWWW .
I actually downloaded the following 2 packages:

Tegra186_Linux_R32.5.1_aarch64.tbz2
and
Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-Filesystem_R32.5.1_aarch64.tbz2

afterwards, I just extract both packages into corresponding directories, by the following 3 commands:

tar xvf Tegra186_Linux_R32.5.1_aarch64.tbz2
cd Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs
sudo tar xvf ../../Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-Filesystem_R32.5.1_aarch64.tbz2

Any suggestions? And, do I have to use a Ubuntu 18.04 instead of Ubuntu 20.04?

Cheers

[jiapei1]

Hmmm, from Installation file missing from archive, it looks I’ve got to install something including nvidia-l4t-init onto my host computer first…

[WayneWWW]

Do you remember to run apply_binaries.sh before flashing the board?

You can refer to the quick start guide for this info.

Jetson Download Center

[jiapei1]

Everything is running now… That is to say: Ubuntu 20.04 is working properly to flash AGX Xavier. ^_^

Thank you @WayneWWW