Disabling GUI on Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano: Issues and Solutions

Issue Overview

Users of the Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano development board are experiencing difficulties when attempting to disable the desktop GUI, particularly for the purpose of training machine learning models like ssd-mobilenet. The primary symptoms include:

• The screen shutting off and not coming back on after executing the command sudo init 3
• Inability to access the system through the display after disabling the GUI
• Potential system instability or unresponsiveness following GUI disabling attempts

This issue appears to be occurring in the context of setting up the device for machine learning tasks, specifically when following the PyTorch transfer learning guide for jetson-inference.

Possible Causes

1. Insufficient System Resources: The Jetson Orin Nano, especially the 8GB RAM version, may not have enough memory to handle the training process without additional swap space.

2. Improper GUI Disabling Method: The use of sudo init 3 might not be the most appropriate or reliable method for disabling the GUI on this specific hardware.

3. Display Driver Issues: The problem could be related to how the system handles display output when switching between GUI and non-GUI modes.

4. System Instability: Overclocking the device prior to disabling the GUI might contribute to system instability.

5. Filesystem Corruption: Intense disk swapping during resource-intensive tasks could potentially lead to SD card filesystem corruption.

Troubleshooting Steps, Solutions & Fixes

1. Add Swap Space:

   • Mount swap space, preferably on an NVMe drive, to provide additional memory for training tasks.
   • Follow the process outlined in the Jetson documentation for adding a swapfile.
   • Ensure the NVMe drive is mounted at boot by adding an entry in /etc/fstab or using the Disks GUI utility.

2. Use SSH for Remote Access:

   • Set up SSH access to the Jetson Orin Nano.
   • Use an SSH client like PuTTY or MobaXterm from a Windows PC to connect to the device.
   • This approach allows you to manage the device without relying on the local display.

3. Alternative GUI Disabling Method:

   • Instead of sudo init 3, use the following command to persistently disable the GUI:

     sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target
     

   • Only use this method after confirming you can access the device via SSH to revert changes if needed.

4. Recover Display Output:

   • If the screen goes dark, try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (or F2, F3, etc.) to access a login prompt.
   • If unsuccessful, reboot the device by unplugging and plugging it back in.

5. Optimize Training Parameters:

   • Start with a smaller batch size (e.g., --batch-size=1) to check if the training can run successfully.
   • Gradually increase resources as you confirm stability.

6. Check Storage Health:

   • If issues persist or frequent reflashing is necessary, check the health or SMART data of your SD card.
   • Replace the SD card if damaged sectors are detected.

7. Revert GUI Changes:

   • To re-enable the GUI after using the systemctl method, use:

     sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target
     

   • Reboot the device for changes to take effect.

8. Consider Headless Operation:

   • For machine learning tasks, consider running the Jetson Orin Nano in headless mode, managing it entirely through SSH.
   • This approach can free up resources typically used by the GUI.

By following these steps and implementing the suggested solutions, users should be able to successfully disable the GUI on their Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano for machine learning tasks while maintaining system stability and access.