JP5.0.2 XavierNX boot from SATA speed issue

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Xavier NX
1

Hi,
I have a Xavier NX on JP 5.0.2 and an external storage SATA SSD on it(SATA to PCIe converter)
I used the command to generate the mass flash image for boot from SATA

sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --external-device sda -c ./tools/kernel_flash/flash_l4t_external_128GB.xml -S 100GiB --showlogs --external-only --no-flash --massflash 8 jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc sda1

and flashed by

sudo ./tools/kernel_flash/l4t_initrd_flash.sh --flash-only --massflash 8

and I had modified the ahci dirver to be built in
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_PLATFORM=y

But I still got the error during the flash
flash_1-3_0_20230206-101801.log (10.6 KB)

Waiting for target to boot-up...
Waiting for target to boot-up...
Waiting for device to expose ssh ......RTNETLINK answers: File exists
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
...RTNETLINK answers: File exists
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
Run command: if [ -f /qspi/l4t_flash_from_kernel.sh ]; then USER=root /qspi/l4t_flash_from_kernel.sh --no-reboot --qspi-only ; fi on root@fe80::1%usb0
4194304
[ 0]: l4t_flash_from_kernel: Starting to create gpt for external device
Active index file is /media/nina/Data/caeg/s_mfi_jetson-xavier-nx-devkit-emmc/tools/kernel_flash/images/external/flash.idx
Number of lines is 13
max_index=12
writing item=1, 9:0:primary_gpt, 512, 19968, gpt_primary_9_0.bin, 16896, fixed-<reserved>-0, 3c2f759193a91c39966679a5f43fabeef7353ae6
Error: Error opening /dev/sde: No medium found
SSH ready
Error flashing non-qspi storage

Cleaning up...

So I tried to modify the driver
CONFIG_ATA=y
and flash fine, boot to SATA without issue
But I got a speed issue

  • JP 4.6.2
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 156 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 79.4 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Read 4KB: 160 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Write 4KB: 97 MB/s

  • JP 5.0.2
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 57.9 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 38.5 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Read 4KB: 82.8 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Write 4KB: 60.8 MB/s

JP 5.0.2 has almost half the speed drop of JP 4.6.2
Is this normal? Or did I do someting wrong?

3

please upgrade to jp5.1 to test. Thanks.

4

Hi
thanks!
I tested on JP5.1, speed does improve

  • JP 5.1 (power mode: 10W Desktop)
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 143 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 109.7 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Read 4KB: 147 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Write 4KB: 115.6 MB/s

but when I change the power mode to 20W 6Core, it’s a little slower

  • JP 5.1 (power mode: 20W 6Core)
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 81 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 73.2 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Read 4KB: 81.4 MB/s
    SATA Sequential Write 4KB: 90.5 MB/s

Is it expected behavior?

5

Need to do some further check. However, we may only check emmc perf as there is no such SATA ever validated on our side.

7

Hi

I did some tests from JP4.6.2 to JP5.1 only eMMC
and without built in CONFIG_ATA, CONFIG_SATA_AHCI and CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_PLATFORM

  • JP4.6.2
    power mode: 10W Desktop
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 159 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 80 MB/s
    power mode: 20W 6Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 156 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 79.8 MB/s

  • JP5.0.2
    power mode: 10W Desktop
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 117 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 68.1 MB/s
    power mode: 20W 6Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 59 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 39 MB/s

  • JP5.1
    power mode: 10W Desktop
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 117 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 70.9 MB/s
    power mode: 20W 6Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 59.6 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 38.5 MB/s

It seems like the speed of JP5 has dropped
would this be fixed?

9

Hi OOOoooo,

We can’t reproduce the performance drop issue between r35.2.1 and r32.7.3 on Xavier-NX-emmc.
Please run below command before test:

$ sudo nvpmodel -m 0
$ sudo jetson_clocks
11

Hi @carolyuu ,

sorry for the late reply
run the command before the test and the result as below

  • r32.7.2 15W 2Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 149 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 79.1 MB/s

  • r35.1 15W 2Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 128 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 74.2 MB/s

  • r35.2.1 15W 2Core
    eMMC Sequential Read 4KB: 130 MB/s
    eMMC Sequential Write 4KB: 70.9 MB/s

May I ask why test mode 0(15W 2core)?
sorry, I clarified my question is the performance from mode5 to mode8
the speed drop between mode5 and mode8 seems only happen after the r35.1