Power on/off jetson xavier nx in a proper way

Autonomous Machines Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Xavier NX
1

It seems to me like power on and off have two different behaviours:

  1. if I shutdown jetson xavier nx through the operating system and after that turns off the power, jetson xavier wont start when I turn the power back on. First I have to remove the powerplug from the device and reinsert it again.
  2. if I just turns off the power and in that way are closing jetson xavier it will restart as soon as I turn the power on again.

While number two works it seems always better to turn off the operating system first but it is a bit odd to remove and reinsert the cable to restart it.

What is the proper way of doing this? Or does number two nothing to worry about? Or am I better off install some kind of on off switch or what is the most easy way of handle this fundamental thing?

3

hello acro,

may I know what’s the commands you’re used to shutdown Xavier NX, thanks

4

Just “shut down” from the menu in the upper right corner in the operatingsystem. Im using unity

6

Seems like it is all about waiting. If I shut down from menu, power off and wait 5 minutes before I power on again it starts up. If I wait for less before I turn on the power again it wont start.

7

hello acro,

did you have setup a serial console to gather bootloader logs, are you able to share the messages for reference?
thanks

9

hm. dont know. nothing I have setup myself. How do I find this? I just installed followed the instructions here:

10

hello acro,

please access Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit User Guide,
you may enable J12, 40-pin expansion header with pin-8, and pin-10 for setting UART communication.

BTW,
we had a success by shutdown Xavier NX via ubuntu power-menu, and power on by plug-in power jack,
there’s no issue from our side.
thanks

11

The thing is that it works if I remove the powercoord and plug it in again. However it wont work if I keep the plug in the jetson, just cutting the powersupply where the poweradapter is connected and then turn it on again. It works however if I just cut the powersupply without shutting it down from the menu. did you in you test reinserted the plug in the powerjack of jetson?

12

Ok, I actually made a totally fresh installation just to check. Same thing:

  1. if I shutdown jetson xavier nx through the operating system and after that turns off the power where the poweradapter is connected, jetson xavier wont start when I turn the power back on. First I have to remove the powerplug from the device and reinsert it again.
  2. if I just turns off the power and in that way are closing jetson xavier it will restart as soon as I turn the power on again.

But if I wait 5 minutes before I turn on the power where the adapter is connected again it works. Could it be that there are som protection on the device (or the adapter) preventing it from powering up?

13

hello acro,

did you power-down the device in the short while, (i.e. within 5~10 seconds) for the first time of system boot-up,
could you please have a try to idle for 10 more minutes and check the results?

since there is a background service executed after the 1st system boot-up,
you may check /opt/ota_package/bl_update_payload.log for the details to make sure the update is finished,
thanks

14

no i didnt. I let the update finish.

It only works in these three scenarios:

  1. cutting the powersupply - the jetson starts when it is back on
  2. shutting down from menu - the jetson starts if I remove and reconnect the powerplug to the jetson
  3. shutting down from menu - the jetson starts if I wait 5-10 minutes before I start the electricity again.

The rest of the cases; if I just shuts down from menu and wont wait or just starting the electricity again (without removing the plug from jetson) it wont start.

Does this work for you?
Will it harm my jetson over time if I just are cutting the power for starting and sutting down the jetson without using the menu?

15

hello acro,

as my previous comments in post #10, we cannot reproduce the issue locally.

there’s design for the sudden power loss.
you may access Jetson Xavier NX Product Design Guide via download center,
please refer to [5.1 Power Supply and Sequencing] for more details.
thanks

16

Hm. Doesnt make it clearer unfortunately. Thanks for your replies! I have clocked and it is enough with one minute with no electricity for it to boot up again when the electricity is turned on. This is when I shut it down with the menu.

Three questions:

  1. could it be that it waits for the transistors in the power adapter to discharge?
  2. Is it possible to put an on off switch on the device? In that case the power can be on all the time. Just starting and stopping the device with the on off switch.
  3. Is it bad / will it harm my jetson over time if Im just cutting the power for shutting it down instead of using the menu?
17

hello acro,

please check [Power Supply and Sequencing] chapter from NX Product Design Guide,
a sudden power loss design is suggested as you can seen in product design guide; this can guarantee power-down safely.

18

So do I understand you correct that just shutting down jetson by only cutting the power all the time wont harm the device since it is prepared for this? (you dont have to go through the menu in the os?) This will in that case solve my problem …

19

You won’t get electrical damage, but you can damage the filesystem. Should the journal know about all unwritten data, then you’ll only lose unwritten data. If the amount of data being written exceeds the journal, then the filesystem will corrupt and require repair. This isn’t a “Jetson thing”, it is just the way a filesystem with cache/buffer works.