Building and Booting Custom Kernel for Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano Dev Kit

Issue Overview

Users are experiencing difficulties when attempting to build and boot a custom kernel for the Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit. The specific issue involves the hardware entering an EFI shell when trying to boot from an SD card, suggesting that the system cannot find the necessary components for a bootable SD card. This problem occurs after following a series of steps to build a custom kernel with additional networking features using a Docker container on an x86 Linux computer.

Possible Causes

1. Incorrect build process: The steps followed for building the custom kernel may have missed crucial elements or contained errors, resulting in an incomplete or improperly configured kernel image.

2. SD card formatting issues: The SD card may not be properly formatted or partitioned to be recognized as a bootable device by the Jetson Orin Nano.

3. Incompatible kernel configuration: The custom kernel configuration might be incompatible with the Jetson Orin Nano hardware, preventing it from booting correctly.

4. Docker environment limitations: Using a Docker container for the build process might introduce unexpected issues or limitations that affect the final output.

5. Firmware or bootloader problems: The custom build process may not have included or properly configured the necessary firmware or bootloader components.

6. Hardware compatibility: There could be a mismatch between the built kernel and the specific revision of the Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit being used.

Troubleshooting Steps, Solutions & Fixes

1. Verify hardware compatibility:

   • Confirm that you are using the Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit.
   • Check if the board was able to boot successfully before adding custom network features.

2. Use a standalone build environment:

   • Consider using a standalone Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 host PC instead of a Docker container for SDK Manager (SDKM).
   • This can help eliminate potential issues introduced by the containerized environment.

3. Double-check the build process:

   • Review each step of the build process to ensure no crucial steps were missed.
   • Pay special attention to the kernel configuration and module installation steps.

4. Verify SD card creation:

   • Ensure the jetson-disk-image-creator.sh script ran successfully without errors.
   • Try using a different SD card to rule out card-specific issues.

5. Check kernel configuration:

   • Review the custom kernel configuration (tegra_defconfig) to ensure all necessary options are enabled.
   • Compare with the original configuration to identify any potentially problematic changes.

6. Inspect bootloader configuration:

   • Verify that the bootloader (U-Boot) is properly configured and included in the SD card image.
   • Check for any error messages during the bootloader stage.

7. Validate firmware and device tree:

   • Ensure all necessary firmware files are included in the build.
   • Verify that the device tree blob (DTB) is correctly built and placed in the appropriate location.

8. Try a minimal custom kernel:

   • Start with a minimal set of custom changes to the kernel configuration.
   • Gradually add networking features one by one, testing boot functionality at each step.

9. Use NVIDIA’s official documentation:

   • Refer to NVIDIA’s official documentation for Jetson Orin Nano kernel customization.
   • Follow their recommended procedures for building and flashing custom kernels.

10. Check for known issues:

    • Search NVIDIA’s developer forums and GitHub repositories for similar issues or known bugs related to custom kernel building for Jetson Orin Nano.

11. Debugging the boot process:

    • Enable verbose boot logging to gather more information about where the boot process is failing.
    • Use a serial console connection to capture detailed boot messages.

12. Verify cross-compilation toolchain:

    • Ensure the correct version of the cross-compilation toolchain is being used (Bootlin Toolchain gcc 9.3).
    • Verify that the CROSS_COMPILE_AARCH64_PATH and CROSS_COMPILE_AARCH64 environment variables are set correctly.

13. Check SDK Manager installation:

    • Verify that the correct version of SDK Manager (version 1.9.3-10904) is installed and configured properly.

14. Validate source synchronization:

    • Ensure that the source_sync.sh script successfully synced the correct tag (jetson_35.3.1) for the kernel sources.

If the issue persists after trying these steps, consider reaching out to NVIDIA’s developer support or community forums for more specific assistance with your custom kernel build for the Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit.