NVIDIA Jetson Orin - Flashing the Board from Cmdline

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This section provides a guide to flash the Jetson Orin OS components from the host computer command line. Flashing is the process of copying the files required into the selected storage from which the Orin is going to boot. In the flashing process, we use the host computer and the Orin.

This section assumes that you already have followed through our Getting Started and Installing Jetpack sections.

Assumptions

You have Jetpack 5.0.x installed on your host computer in the default path ($HOME/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0.1_DP_Linux_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS/Linux_for_Tegra). If your Jetpack installation used a different path, make sure to modify accordingly the JETPACK environment variable in Step 1.

The OS components to be installed in the Orin AGX are stored in the default locations expected by the Jetpack flash script. If you haven't modified your Jetpack directory or if you followed our Compiling Code Section, then the files should be in the default locations. If you have the files stored in a custom location, make sure to use the appropriate flags to indicate to the flash script the paths to the kernel, dtb, and bootloader.

Step 1: Define the Environment Variables

Make sure to run the following commands in the terminal that you will use to flash the Orin.

export JETPACK=$HOME/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0.1_DP_Linux_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS/Linux_for_Tegra

Step 2: Set Board in Recovery Mode

In order to flash the Orin, we must set it in recovery mode so that it can accept the files. The procedure to put the Orin in recovery mode is:

Start with the Jetson Orin AGX devkit turned off and disconnected from the power supply.
Get the USB-A to USB-C cable and connect the USB-A end to your host computer (the computer where you installed Jetpack) and the USB-C end to the Orin type C port L, shown in Figure 2.
Press and hold the FORCE RECOVERY button (B in Figure 1).
While pressing the FORCE RECOVERY button, press and release the RESET button (C in Figure 1).

Figure 1: Recovery Mode Buttons	Figure 2: USB-C Port for Flashing

At this point, the Orin should be in recovery mode. To verify, you can run the following command on your host computer:

lsusb

If the Orin is in recovery mode, you should see a line similar to the following among the command output:

Bus 001 Device 011: ID 0955:7023 NVidia Corp

Step 3 (Optional): Create a Default User

The default user/password can be configured after flashing if you can connect a display, keyboard, and mouse to the Orin to complete the OEM configuration during the first boot. If you wish to save time and create a default user/password for your Orin before flashing, you can execute the commands below, make sure to replace <user_name> and <password> for a username and password of your choice.

 cd $JETPACK/tools
 sudo ./l4t_create_default_user.sh -u <user_name> -p <password>

Step 4: Execute the Flash Script

NVIDIA provides a script for flashing the Orin in the Jetpack directory. This script takes two arguments, the target board, and the root device:

sudo ./flash.sh <target board> <rootdev>

There are four possible options of target board for the Orin AGX:

jetson-agx-orin-devkit: Recommended, this configuration is used for a Jetson AGX Orin SOM connected to the NVIDIA AGX Orin devkit.
jetson-agx-orin-devkit-as-jao-40w: This configuration is used to emulate a Jetson Orin NX 32GB module on a Jetson AGX Orin SOM connected to the NVIDIA AGX Orin devkit.
jetson-agx-orin-devkit-as-nx-16gb: This configuration is used to emulate a Jetson Orin NX 16GB module on a Jetson AGX Orin SOM connected to the NVIDIA AGX Orin devkit.
jetson-agx-orin-devkit-as-nx-8gb: This configuration is used to emulate a Jetson Orin NX 8GB module on a Jetson AGX Orin SOM connected to the NVIDIA AGX Orin devkit

In the following subsections, we are going to use the jetson-agx-orin-devkit configuration to flash the Orin.

The root device indicates the storage that will be used to boot the Orin, the following options are available:

eMMC
USB Drive
NVMe

The following subsections show the command to flash each of the storage options available.

Option #1: eMMC

This option is the most simple, just execute the following commands:

cd $JETPACK
sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-orin-devkit mmcblk0p1

The flashing process will take a while, and should print a success message if the flash is finished successfully. After the flash script finishes successfully, the Orin will boot automatically.

Option #2: USB Drive

This option requires copying the OS components to the USB.

Prepare the USB Drive

First, you will need to identify the mount point of the USB Drive. To do so, you can run the following command before and after connecting the USB Drive to your host computer and identify the new line that appears:

mount

The mount command will print a list of block devices and the mountpoint. For example, in our case, the following line wasn't printed by mount before connecting the USB Drive but was printed by mount after the USB Drive was connected:

/dev/sdd1 on /media/$USER/bde7a526-1b2d-4ad3-925f-4650b2563ab7 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uhelper=udisks2)

This indicates that the block device for the USB Drive is /dev/sdd1.

Now that the block device of the USB Drive has been identified, you can format the USB drive in your host computer using the commands below. Make sure to replace </dev/sdX> with your actual device.

umount </dev/sdX>
sudo mkfs.ext4 </dev/sdX>

At this point, you can proceed to copy the files to the USB drive. This can take a while because around 6GB need to be copied:

 cd $JETPACK
 sudo mkdir tmp_system
 sudo mount </dev/sddX> $JETPACK/tmp_system
 cd rootfs/
 sudo cp -a * $JETPACK/tmp_system && sync

When the copy finishes, you can proceed to umount the USB Drive with the following command:

sudo umount $JETPACK_DIR/tmp_system

At this point, you can disconnect the USB Drive.

Flash

Connect the USB Drive where you copied the files to the Jetson AGX Orin. Then, flash the board with the following commands:

 cd $JETPACK
 sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-orin-devkit sda1 #it can be another mount point

After the flash script finishes successfully, the Orin will boot automatically.

NVMe

 cd $JETPACK
 sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-orin-devkit  nvme0n1p1

To flash the Jetson Orin you need to set the board in Recovery Mode. This Mode can be set by connecting the USB Type-C to the board and the USB port on the host PC. The USB Type-C port is shown in the figure below. Before setting the board in Recovery Mode is important to know that when the power supply is connected, the Jetson Orin board will power on automatically.

Setting Board in Recovery Mode

To put the board into force USB Recovery Mode follow these instructions:

1. Power down the device. If connected, remove the AC adapter from the device. The device must be powered OFF, and not in a suspend or sleep state.
2. Connect the Type-C plug on the USB cable to the Recovery (USB Type-C) Port on the device and the other end to an available USB port on the host PC.
3. Connect the power adapter to the device. The board will power on automatically.
4. Press and hold the FORCE RECOVERY button: while pressing the FORCE RECOVERY button, press the RESET button, then release both.
5. Check if the device is in recovery mode by using the lsusb command. A line similar to "Bus 001 Device 011: ID 0955:7023 NVidia Corp" will appear listed as the output command on the host terminal.

All examples assume that the board is in recovery mode.

Flash Script Options

NVIDIA provides several scripts to help to generate the images and to flash the resulting images.

This is the main script to flash :

JETPACK_DIR=/home/$USER/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0_DP_Linux_DP_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS/flash.sh.

What this script will do is install or flash the image to the desired destination. The script is controlled by variables defined in the DTB file.

 
# Examples:
# ./flash.sh <target_board> internal			- boot <target_board> from on-board device (eMMC/SDCARD)
# ./flash.sh <target_board> external			- boot <target_board> from external device
# ./flash.sh <target_board> mmcblk0p1			- boot <target_board> from eMMC
# ./flash.sh <target_board> mmcblk1p1			- boot <target_board> from SDCARD
# ./flash.sh <target_board> sda1			- boot <target_board> from USB device
# ./flash.sh <target_board> nvme0n1			- boot <target_board> from NVME storage device
# ./flash.sh -N <IPaddr>:/nfsroot <target_board> eth0	- boot <target_board> from NFS
# ./flash.sh -k LNX <target_board> mmcblk1p1		- update <target_board> kernel
# ./flash.sh -k EBT <target_board> mmcblk1p1		- update <target_board> bootloader
#
# Optional Environment Variables:
# BCTFILE ---------------- Boot control table configuration file to be used.
# BOARDID ---------------- Pass boardid to override EEPROM value
# BOARDREV --------------- Pass board_revision to override EEPROM value
# BOARDSKU --------------- Pass board_sku to override EEPROM value
# BOOTLOADER ------------- Bootloader binary to be flashed
# BOOTPARTLIMIT ---------- GPT data limit. (== Max BCT size + PPT size)
# BOOTPARTSIZE ----------- Total eMMC HW boot partition size.
# CFGFILE ---------------- Partition table configuration file to be used.
# CMDLINE ---------------- Target cmdline. See help for more information.
# DEVSECTSIZE ------------ Device Sector size. (default = 512Byte).
# DTBFILE ---------------- Device Tree file to be used.
# EMMCSIZE --------------- Size of target device eMMC (boot0+boot1+user).
# EMCFUSE_VALUE ---------- Value of emc fuse.
# FLASHAPP --------------- Flash application running in host machine.
# FLASHER ---------------- Flash server running in target machine.
# INITRD ----------------- Initrd image file to be flashed.
# KERNEL_IMAGE ----------- Linux kernel zImage file to be flashed.
# MTS -------------------- MTS file name such as mts_si.
# MTSPREBOOT ------------- MTS preboot file name such as mts_preboot_si.
# NFSARGS ---------------- Static Network assignments.
#			   <C-ipa>:<S-ipa>:<G-ipa>:<netmask>
# NFSROOT ---------------- NFSROOT i.e. <my IP addr>:/exported/rootfs_dir.
# NO_KERNEL_DTB ---------- Do not use kernel dtb.
# NO_RECOVERY_IMG -------- Do not create or re-create recovery.img
# NO_ROOTFS -------------- Do not create or re-create system.img
# ODMDATA ---------------- Odmdata to be used.
# PKCKEY ----------------- RSA key file to used to sign bootloader images.
# ROOTFSSIZE ------------- Linux RootFS size (internal emmc/nand only).
# ROOTFS_DIR ------------- Linux RootFS directory name.
# SBKKEY ----------------- SBK key file to used to encrypt bootloader images.
# SCEFILE ---------------- SCE firmware file such as camera-rtcpu-sce.img.
# SPEFILE ---------------- SPE firmware file path such as bootloader/spe.bin.
# FAB -------------------- Target board's FAB ID.
# TEGRABOOT -------------- lowerlayer bootloader such as nvtboot.bin.
# WB0BOOT ---------------- Warmboot code such as nvtbootwb0.bin

eMMc

‎

Before flashing the eMMC for the first time a new user must be set. You can do so by running:

‎

 JETPACK_DIR=/home/$USER/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0_DP_Linux_DP_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS/
 cd $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra/tools
 sudo ./l4t_create_default_user.sh -u <user_name> -p <password>

For example:

 sudo ./l4t_create_default_user.sh -u nvidia -p nvidia

After creating the user name, follow the next steps to flash the Orin with the flash script.

 JETPACK_DIR=/home/$USER/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0_DP_Linux_DP_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS/
 cd $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra/
 sudo ./flash.sh jetson-agx-orin-devkit mmcblk0p1

USB Drive

To flash the filesystem to USB you need to put the filesystem on the USB first.

Insert your USB flash/drive in your PC and check where it was mounted:

/dev/sdd1 on /media/$USER/bde7a526-1b2d-4ad3-925f-4650b2563ab7 type ext4 (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uhelper=udisks2)

Format the USB drive in your PC

umount /dev/sdd1
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdd1

Copy the filesystem to the USB drive. It takes a while, its size is around 6GB

 JETPACK_DIR=/home/$USER/nvidia/nvidia_sdk/JetPack_5.0_DP_Linux_DP_JETSON_AGX_ORIN_TARGETS
 cd $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra
 sudo mkdir tmp_system
 sudo mount /dev/sdd1 $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra/tmp_system
 cd rootfs/
 sudo cp -a * $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra/tmp_system && sync

Umount the USB drive and remove it from your PC

sudo umount $JETPACK_DIR/Linux_for_Tegra/tmp_system

Finally, connect the USB d

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