Flash fails if the partition settings are changed

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson Systems Jetson Orin Nano
1

I created an xml file with the following partition added for the NVMe storage connected to the Orin Nano development board, but flash failed. Flash succeeded with the original flash_l4t_nvme_rootfs_ab.xml under the same conditions, and the capacity of the NVMe storage is 128 GB, so I think it is enough.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!-- Nvidia Tegra Partition Layout Version 1.0.0 -->

<partition_layout version="01.00.0000">
    <device type="external" instance="0" sector_size="512" num_sectors="122159104">
        <partition name="master_boot_record" type="protective_master_boot_record">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 512 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Contains protective MBR. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="primary_gpt" type="primary_gpt">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 19968 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Contains primary GPT of the `nvme` device. All
              partitions defined after this entry are configured in the kernel, and are
              accessible by standard partition tools such as gdisk and parted. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="APP" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> APPSIZE </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <align_boundary> 4096 </align_boundary>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> APPFILE </filename>
            <unique_guid> APPUUID </unique_guid>
            <description> **Required.** Contains the rootfs. This partition must be defined
              after `primary_GPT` so that it can be accessed as the fixed known special device
              `/dev/nvme0n1p1`. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="APP_b" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> APPSIZE </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <align_boundary> 4096 </align_boundary>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> APPFILE_b </filename>
            <unique_guid> APPUUID_b </unique_guid>
            <description> **Required.** Contains the rootfs. This partition must be defined
              after `primary_GPT` so that it can be accessed as the fixed known special device
              `/dev/nvme0n1p2`. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="kernel" type="kernel">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 67108864 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> LNXFILE </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Chain A; contains boot.img (kernel, initrd, etc)
              which is loaded in when cpu-bootloader failes to launch the kernel
              from the rootfs at `/boot`. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="kernel-dtb" type="kernel_dtb">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 458752 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> DTB_FILE </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Chain A; contains kernel device tree blob. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="reserved_for_chain_A_user" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 33554432 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Reserved space for chain A on user device. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="kernel_b" type="kernel">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 67108864 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> LNXFILE_b </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Chain B; contains boot.img (kernel, initrd, etc)
              which is loaded in when cpu-bootloader failes to launch the kernel
              from the rootfs at `/boot`. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="kernel-dtb_b" type="kernel_dtb">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 458752 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> DTB_FILE </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Chain B; contains kernel device tree blob. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="reserved_for_chain_B_user" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 33554432 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Reserved space for chain B on user device. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="RECNAME" type="kernel">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> RECSIZE </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> RECFILE </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Contains recovery image. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="RECDTB-NAME" type="kernel_dtb">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 524288 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> RECDTB-FILE </filename>
            <description> **Required.** Contains recovery DTB image. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="RECROOTFS" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> RECROOTFSSIZE </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Optional.** Reserved for future use by the recovery filesystem;
              removable. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="esp" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 67108864 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <filename> ESP_FILE </filename>
            <partition_type_guid> C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B </partition_type_guid>
            <description> **Required.** EFI system partition with L4T Launcher. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="RECNAME_alt" type="kernel">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> RECSIZE </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** For fail-safe recovery update. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="RECDTB-NAME_alt" type="kernel_dtb">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 524288 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** For fail-safe recovery DTB update. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="esp_alt" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 67108864 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** EFI system partition for fail-safe ESP update. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="UDA" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 18432 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x808 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Automatically takes all remaining space on the device except that
              occupied by the `secondary_gpt` partition. Allocation attribute must be set to 0x808.
              May be mounted and used to store user data. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="secondary_gpt" type="secondary_gpt">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> **Required.** Contains secondary GPT of the `nvme`
              device. </description>
        </partition>
        <partition name="TESTFS" type="data">
            <allocation_policy> sequential </allocation_policy>
            <filesystem_type> basic </filesystem_type>
            <size> 1048576 </size>
            <file_system_attribute> 0 </file_system_attribute>
            <allocation_attribute> 0x8 </allocation_attribute>
            <percent_reserved> 0 </percent_reserved>
            <description> Test </description>
        </partition>
    </device>
</partition_layout>

The output at the end of the execution is as follows.

[   2.4428 ] End sector for TESTFS, expected at: 122159070, actual: 0
Error: Return value 4
Command tegraparser_v2 --generategpt --pt flash.xml.bin
Error: /work/Linux_for_Tegra/bootloader/signed/flash.idx is not found
Error: failed to relocate images to /work/Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/images

Is there a problem with the settings?

3

Hi,

Please try updating num_sectors="122159104" according to your disk size.
You can get disk sector sizes with sudo fdisk -l, or calculate with (# of GB) * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 / 512, and with a 128GB disk, I’d say you may get only 120GB or less.

4

Hello, DaveYYY. Thank you for your reply.

I tried changing the device tag as follows, but I get the same error.

    <device type="external" instance="0" sector_size="512" num_sectors="230686720">

[   1.6548 ] End sector for TESTFS, expected at: 230686686, actual: 0
Error: Return value 4
Command tegraparser_v2 --generategpt --pt flash.xml.bin
Error: /work/Linux_for_Tegra/bootloader/signed/flash.idx is not found
Error: failed to relocate images to /work/Linux_for_Tegra/tools/kernel_flash/images

The size of the added partition is only 1MiB, so I don’t think it’s a capacity issue.

5

Hi,

Please try moving TESTFS so it’s located in front of secondary_gpt, which is supposed to be the last partition.
https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r35.4.1/DeveloperGuide/text/AR/BootArchitecture/PartitionConfiguration.html#partition-child-elements

The UDA partition gets enlarged to take up all remaining disk space, so if you want to keep it this way, ordering should be TESTFS, UDA, secondary_gpt.

6

Hello, DaveYYY. Thank you for your reply.

As you said, I moved the TESTFS partition to the front of the UDA partition, and the flash was successful.
Thank you very much.