Issues Downgrading Jetson Orin Nano from JetPack 6.0 to JetPack 5.1.4 – Persistent Errors and Stuck Processes

Autonomous Machines Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Orin Nano
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Hello NVIDIA Community,

I am trying to downgrade my Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit from JetPack 6.0 to JetPack 5.1.4 due to performance issues with the newer JetPack version on my setup. I’ve encountered several persistent issues during the flashing process with SDK Manager, and after many attempts, I’m reaching out for additional guidance or solutions.

System Details:

  • Device: Jetson Orin Nano 8GB Developer Kit
  • Host Machine: Ubuntu 20.04 (running in VirtualBox on macOS, though I’ve also attempted with a Windows laptop and Ubuntu VM)
  • SDK Manager Version: 2.2.0-12021

Issues Encountered:

  1. ECID Read Failure & Target in Bad State:
  • Errors such as “ECID read failed” and “target is in a bad state and cannot be flashed” occurred at various points.
  • The device was in Recovery Mode and recognized by lsusb as NVIDIA Corp. APX.
  1. Timeout in USB Write:
  • Encountered USB timeout errors during flashing. Attempted to resolve by disabling USB autosuspend on the host:
sudo -s
echo -1 > /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/autosuspend
  1. Converting Raw Image to Sparse Image Hangs:
  • Flashing process often got stuck at “converting raw image to sparse image” with no further progress for 30+ minutes.
  1. Frequent Stalling on “Pausing” State:
  • SDK Manager often became unresponsive after using “Pause for a Bit”.
  1. Checkpoint Write Errors:
  • Repeated errors like “Flash Jetson Linux - tar: write checkpoint failed”, suggesting issues writing to the target storage.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

  • Reformatted SD card, verified Recovery Mode status, ensured a stable USB connection, and ran SDK Manager with sudo.
  • Restarted SDK Manager and re-entered Recovery Mode multiple times.
  • Considered VirtualBox limitations, but I lack access to a native Linux setup at the moment.

Questions:

  1. Are there specific VirtualBox settings to improve compatibility with SDK Manager?
  2. Has anyone encountered similar USB write timeouts or ECID read failures while downgrading?
  3. Would a native Linux environment resolve these issues more effectively?

Log Report

I also have the full log report available, which includes detailed error messages and timestamps for the issues encountered.
SDKM_logs_2024-11-16_07-18-44.zip (455.9 KB)

Thank you for any advice or suggestions. I appreciate the community’s time and assistance!

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Officially flashing Orin device VM is not supported, the Virtualbox USB sharing is flaky. You’ll need to use native Ubuntu host machine to get SDK manager working well.
See the SDK manager system requirement: System Requirements — SDK Manager 2.1.0 documentation

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Thank you @kayccc for the clarification on the unsupported nature of flashing Jetson devices in a Virtual Machine. I wasn’t aware that VirtualBox’s USB sharing limitations could interfere so significantly with SDK Manager. I appreciate the reference to the SDK Manager system requirements.

I’ll proceed with setting up a native Ubuntu environment to ensure compatibility and stability. However, would you recommend using a native Ubuntu installation on a dedicated machine, or is a dual-boot setup on a Windows laptop sufficient for performing the downgrade?

If there are any specific recommendations for the Ubuntu version or system configurations that work best with SDK Manager for Jetson Orin Nano 8GB Dev kit to install the jetpack 5.14 version, please let me know.

Thanks again for the guidance!

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