Problems turning on Jetson Nano

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Nano
1

Frequently my Jetson Nano will not turn on. I have seen quite a few posts from people with similar problems.

Now I have a theory to explain this. My Nano is powered by a USB power supply, connected to the micro USB connector. The Nano has no power button, so it is turned on by switching on the USB power supply. It must turn off by an internal electronic switch when the Nano is shutdown. The Nano stays turned off until the power supply is turned off and then back on again (cycled). However I believe the electronic switch is very high impedance, and leaves the power supply with some voltage stored on its smoothing capacitor. Hence the Nano never thinks the power supply has been turned off. The solution is to disconnect the USB connector from the Nano, and then reconnect it. I notice that the power LED turns green for about 1S when I do this. I think the Nano turns on, but then rapidly exhausts the power from the capacitor. Turning on the power supply now boots the Nano normally.

It is an annoying problem, as I do not want to have to disconnect the USB cable every time I turn on. I can only think of hacking the USB cable to insert a switch. Has anyone got a better idea ? Can anyone confirm or refute my theory about the root cause ?

4

Hi, the discharging process is necessary for safely power down, and the default power-off discharging time of nano is not so long as you already saw that when disconnect usb power supply. I suspect it is because the capacitance in the usb power supply.

5

I am also pretty sure the problem is due to capacitance in the USB power supply. But it is still pretty annoying to have to physically disconnect the USB cable each time I need to turn on the Nano.

While I researched this issue I read of people returning the Nano board as defective because of it would not turn on. I now think some of these people may also have been suffering from capacitance in the PSU.