SSH Access Issue After Flashing Jetson Orin Nano with Minimal Rootfs

[temciousf]

After flashing my Jetson Orin Nano Developerkit with a minimal root filesystem, I couldn’t establish a network connection or access SSH through Ethernet. To resolve this, I added a DHCP client service to the rootfs before flashing, which worked initially, and I was able to access SSH.

However, after a couple of days, I lose SSH access again, even though the Ethernet cable is still connected. Restarting the device restores the connection.

Here’s the function I used to set up the DHCP service during the flashing and this function is included in the flashing script:

# Function to setup DHCP service
setup_dhcp_service() {
    
    # Create systemd directory if it doesn't exist
    mkdir -p Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/
    
    # Create the service file
    cat > Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/dhclient-eth0.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Obtain IP address for eth0
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/sbin/dhclient eth0

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
    
    # Set proper permissions
    chmod 644 Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/dhclient-eth0.service
    
    # Create directory for symlinks if it doesn't exist
    mkdir -p Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/
    
    # Create symlink to enable the service
    ln -sf /etc/systemd/system/dhclient-eth0.service \
        Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/dhclient-eth0.service
    
}

Why does SSH access drop after a few days, and why does restarting the device restore the connection? Could there be an issue with the DHCP setup or other configuration?

[DaneLLL]

Hi,
By default it does not enable ethernet. Please add a service to run sudo dhclient. You may check the examples:

Jetson AGX Orin FAQ
Q: How to autorun an app or commands at startup?

[temciousf]

Hi @DaneLLL ,

I couldn’t find the relevant topic in this FAQ link.

[kayccc]

Is this still an issue to support? Any result can be shared?

[temciousf]

Hi @kayccc ,

The issue still persists. It works without any problem most of the time, but occasionally, it freezes, and I am unable to access the board via SSH. Once I reset it, everything goes back to normal.

Could you please help me resolve this issue?

[foxsquirrel1]

@temciousf

but occasionally, it freezes, and I am unable to access the board via SSH.

Are you positive its not your networking gear generating your problem. How are you connecting to the board? If your host has multiple interfaces and you are using one point to point it could be ubuntu is breaking. We have discovered issues with multiple interface cards.

You also built your own image, expect problems. All you can do is keep looking, my thoughts are the board is fine.

To verify that its not the board light up the factory sd card image and test it. If that randomly fails it rules out your config / custom image as a problem.