Jetson Orin NX 8GB – Boot failure: User mode data-abort (JetPack 5.1.3, NVMe)

Hello,

I am using a Jetson Orin NX 8GB with JetPack 5.1.3, booting from NVMe.

During boot, I consistently get the following error:

I/TC: Reserved shared memory is disabled
I/TC: Dynamic shared memory is enabled
I/TC: Normal World virtualization support is disabled
I/TC: Asynchronous notifications are disabled
E/TC:?? 00
E/TC:?? 00 User mode data-abort at address 0x40 (translation fault)
E/TC:?? 00  esr 0x92000005

After this message, the system does not continue booting.

I would like to

boot_log.txt (52.8 KB)

understand this issue more clearly:

  1. What does “User mode data-abort (translation fault) at address 0x40” mean during boot?

  2. At which boot stage does this error occur?

  3. What are the most common reasons for this type of failure?

  4. Can this be caused by NVMe boot configuration or flashing issues?

  5. What steps should I follow to prevent this issue from happening again?

I am looking for guidance to understand the root cause and avoid similar problems in future deployments.

I have attached the complete boot log below for reference.

Thank you for your support.

*** Please note that this reply is generated by LLM automatically ***

The error message “User mode dataabort translation fault at address 0x40” during boot on a Jetson Orin NX 8GB with JetPack 5.1.3 indicates a memory-related issue. This error occurs when the system attempts to access a memory location that is not valid or is not properly mapped.

To understand this issue more clearly, let’s break down the error message:

  • “User mode” refers to the CPU mode in which the system is running. In this case, the system is in user mode, which means it’s executing user-level code.
  • “Dataabort” is a type of exception that occurs when the CPU attempts to access memory that is not valid or is not properly mapped.
  • “Translation fault” refers to the fact that the CPU’s memory management unit (MMU) is unable to translate the virtual address to a physical address.
  • “At address 0x40” indicates the memory address where the error occurred.

This error typically occurs during the boot process, specifically during the kernel initialization phase. The kernel is responsible for setting up the memory management system, including the MMU, and this error suggests that there is an issue with the memory configuration or the kernel’s memory management.

The most common reasons for this type of failure include:

  1. Memory corruption: The system’s memory may be corrupted, causing the kernel to access invalid memory locations.
  2. Incorrect memory configuration: The memory configuration may be incorrect, causing the kernel to access memory locations that are not valid.
  3. Kernel bugs: There may be bugs in the kernel that cause it to access invalid memory locations.
  4. NVMe boot configuration issues: The NVMe boot configuration may be incorrect, causing the system to access invalid memory locations.
  5. Flashing issues: The flashing process may have corrupted the system’s memory or caused issues with the kernel’s memory management.

To prevent this issue from happening again, you can try the following steps:

  1. Verify the memory configuration: Ensure that the memory configuration is correct and matches the system’s specifications.
  2. Update the kernel: Ensure that the kernel is up-to-date and that any known bugs have been fixed.
  3. Verify the NVMe boot configuration: Ensure that the NVMe boot configuration is correct and that the system is booting from the correct device.
  4. Reflash the system: Reflash the system using the correct flashing procedure to ensure that the kernel and memory management are properly configured.
  5. Run a memory test: Run a memory test to ensure that the system’s memory is functioning correctly.

In comparison to other Jetson modules, the Jetson Orin NX 8GB has a similar architecture to the Jetson Orin Nano, but with more memory and a faster processor. The boot process and memory management are similar between the two modules, so the same troubleshooting steps can be applied.

To further diagnose the issue, you can try the following:

  1. Boot with a different kernel: Try booting with a different kernel version to see if the issue persists.
  2. Disable NVMe boot: Try disabling NVMe boot and booting from a different device to see if the issue persists.
  3. Run a memory dump: Run a memory dump to capture the system’s memory state at the time of the error.
  4. Analyze the boot log: Analyze the boot log to see if there are any other error messages or clues that can help diagnose the issue.

By following these steps, you should be able to diagnose and resolve the issue, and prevent it from happening again in future deployments.

*** Please give the thumbs up if you get answers you like. Or provide feedback to help us improve the answer. ***

Hi,

To better analyze the issue, I would like to add a few more details.

The system we encountered the error on had been running smoothly for many days without any issues. However, after shutting down the system and restarting it, we encountered this error. Despite multiple attempts to reboot, the system never started correctly again.

Afterward, when I reprogrammed the system using sdkManager, it started working fine without any errors.

At this point, I’m curious about what could have caused this error situation and what the risk is of encountering the same error again on a previously working system. As far as I know, the end-user cannot directly access these addresses and cannot perform read/write operations. Given this, could the cause of the error be related to NVIDIA itself? How can we ensure that we won’t encounter this issue again with the products we are using?

Thank you, and best regards.

Hi,

Some questions to confirm:

  • Is your Orin NX a developer kit or custom board?

Please try to upgrade to the latest version JetPack 5.1.6 or JetPack 6.2.2 to cross check whether issue occurs.

Thanks

Hi,

We are using a custom board.
In our other applications, we are utilizing the higher version packages you suggested. However, this is not the answer we are looking for. We are currently about to release a product with JetPack 5.1.3, and we do not wish to update JetPack at this stage.
Our question is as follows:
When we release a product with JetPack 5.1.3, could the product potentially fail to operate due to an error whose cause we are not yet aware of?
I would like to ask again: Is there any possibility that the error could be related to our implementation, or is it purely a software issue originating from Nvidia?

Thanks

HI,

It appears to be a known issue in version 5.1.3, which has been resolved in version 5.1.4.
Please try blow link to fix it:

Thanks