How To Flash A Jetson Nano - VTAstrobotics/Documentation GitHub Wiki
Contents
Prerequisites
To understand the content in this page, you should have completed our Software Setup tutorial and know
- Basic Linux
- How to connect a MicroSD card to your computer
- How to power a Jetson Nano (either via its MicroUSB or barrel jack port)
Additionally, you will need
- A computer that you can connect a MicroSD card to with Linux installed
- A MicroSD card
- A Jetson Nano
Setup
Downloads
In your VM, download JetPack from NVIDIA’s website. I used version 4.6 because our Nano’s currently run a QSPI software compatible with version 4.X of Jetpack, and 4.6 was the latest 4.X version.
Note: there are 2 kinds of memory on a Jetson Nano: the memory on a MicroSD card and the memory that stays on the Nano permanently (QSPI). QSPI memory contains the boot content. The microSD card memory is the focus of this document.
Additionally, download Balena Etcher.
Format your drive
While those are downloading, ensure your MicroSD card is empty as you will lose everything on it.
Next, format your MicroSD card by right-clicking and selecting Format... Give it a name and select File Allocation Table (FAT).
Flash
Launch Balena Etcher. Select your MicroSD card as the target drive and the JetPack you downloaded as the software. Then click flash.
When this is finished, put the MicroSD card in the Jetson Nano. Then, power the Jetson Nano. You should connect a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to navigate through setup steps. Congratulations!
Troubleshooting
Useful stats
Current Nano flashed with L4T version 32.6.1 and JetPack version 4.6.0 in 2023.
Why not JetPack version 5 and beyond?
Corrupted MicroSD card
If you corrupted a MicroSD card, that sucks. That happened to me (my vm crashed while copying files). You can google to find troubleshooting steps until you can access your old files within the SD card, and copy those into your Documents folder or something, but then you’ll need to wipe the SD card and start again.
For me, I was able to access my files within my VM, but on my host machine, the drive kept opening and immediately closing.
Jetson doesn't boot
If you are sure that you flashed the MicroSD card correctly with JetPack for a Nano, not "Xavier" or something else but it still won’t boot, this is likely due to an incompatibility between your QSPI and JetPack (on the MicroSD). You may want to look at this forum post if this happens to you.