Unable to install balenaOS on Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit

balena Jetson Flash
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1

Hi!

I have been trying to get balenaOS running on my new Jetson Nano Orin for the past two days, but so far, I’ve had no luck.

I was able to flash the latest Ubuntu version.

I’ve installed a 512 GB NVMe drive in the Jetson, and I did not install an SD card. I don’t have a keyboard to connect, but I do have a monitor attached.

Following the guide, I flashed the image onto a USB-A stick and plugged it into the Jetson Nano. However, the Jetson keeps restarting and displays the error:

658E6CC8-14A2-4099-B221-B778C291AE0C_1_201_a
658E6CC8-14A2-4099-B221-B778C291AE0C_1_201_a1170×2086 570 KB

I tried using ChatGPT to debug and find a solution, but none of the directions I tried worked.

Let me know if you need any further details. I will be happy to provide.
Jure

2

This evening, I will try a different approach. I may have messed up the NVMe.

This is the procedure suggested by GPT. Wish me luck.

Step 1 — Fix UEFI boot mode (critical)

Enter UEFI (press ESC during boot)

Set:

  • Boot mode → ExtLinux
  • Boot order → USB first

Step 2 — Wipe NVMe completely (VERY important)

Right now your NVMe likely contains garbage layout.

You want it empty, not “almost empty”.

From Mac:

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX
sudo gpt destroy /dev/diskX
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdiskX bs=1m count=100

(Replace diskX with your NVMe)

This ensures:

  • no GPT
  • no leftover boot metadata
  • no confusion for UEFI

Step 3 — Reflash USB with Etcher

Use:

  • Balena Etcher
  • Official flasher image

Step 4 — Boot sequence (strict)

  1. Insert:
    • USB (flasher)
    • NVMe (empty)
  2. Power on
  3. Let it run

Expected:

  • It boots
  • Shows balena flasher
  • Writes to NVMe
  • Powers off

Step 5 — Remove USB

Then:

  • Boot again
  • Should boot from NVMe
3

Hi @jbernavaprah Welcome! Can you tell us what version of BalenaOS you are trying to flash on to the Orin Nano? Additionally, when you flashed the stock ubuntu image onto the device, did you trigger the qSPI update ?

4

Hi @shaunmulligan1

Can you tell us what version of BalenaOS you are trying to flash on to the Orin Nano?

I used this one:

image
image2408×1370 403 KB

Additionally, when you flashed the stock ubuntu image onto the device, did you trigger the qSPI update

I’m not quite sure. I tried a lot of stuff before writing in the forum.
But at one time, I had the Nvidia Ubuntu working. (I don’t know if this somehow answers your question)

5

@jbernavaprah have you tried the steps outlined on this page: Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano 8GB (SD) Devkit NVMe | balena docs

6

Hi @alanb128!

Sorry for the late reply, but it was really challenging to get the SDK Manager working. For anyone else who will have the same issue, you need an Intel/AMD processor (fortunately, my old laptop), and, with it installed, specifically Ubuntu 20.04. Anything else (Mac M series, or a different Ubuntu version) will not work for the SDK Manager for Jetson Orin Nano.

Anyway, following the guide you mentioned, reinstalled the firmware and Ubuntu from scratch on the Jetson (btw, Ubuntu is working), flashed the balenaOS image to the USB stick, and restarted the Jetson Nano, which gave me the same error shown before.

OpenAndReadUnstrustedFileToBuffer: Failed to open boot\extlinux\extlinux.conf: Not found
ProcessExtlinuxConfig:sds Failed to Authenticate boot\extlinux\extlinux.conf (Not Found)
L4TLauncher: ProcessExtLinuxConfig failed on partition flash-rootA: Not Found

Do I need to use the firmware 36.3 specifically?
SDK Manager installed the 36.5.

Is there any specific point of the guide you suggested I should pay more attention to?

7

Hey @jbernavaprah 36.5 should be OK. Just to confirm, you’ve flashed the USB stick with balenaOS 6.10.26+rev1, and it is booting to that stick, but you’re getting this error right after it boots to the stick?

8

Correct. I still have the same error as the first image I posted. Nothing changed.
I will try a previous version of balenaOS sometime this evening, and then also a different firmware version on the Jetson Orin Nano.

But in the meantime, I’m happy to give you more details if you need.

9

With the 6.4.9, it goes forward, but then the screen becomes black (no output) and the sub stick stops flashing after some seconds.

This is the latest message on the screen is this one:

Visualizza foto recenti
Visualizza foto recenti1170×1137 354 KB

I’m trying the 6.10.25 version now.

10

v6.10.25, same error as the 6.10.26+rev1

Visualizza foto recenti 2
Visualizza foto recenti 21170×1028 311 KB

11

Tried the combination firmware 36.4 and balenaos v6.10.25.

Same error.

There is something really strange happening with my Jetson Orin Nano.

Any help is really appreciated!

12

Hi @jbernavaprah , can you please try flashing v6.10.8 and let me know if it works?

13

After the screen turns off, please also wait for the device to power off - green LED turns off when flashing is completed. Then, remove the USB drive, remove and re-apply power to the device. Make sure a wifi connection was configured when you downloaded the image, or that you have an Ethernet cable connected to the device, so it can connect to the cloud and appear online in your dashboard.

14

Yeah! With the version you suggested It successfully connected to the fleet!

Now, how can I go to the latest version or do I miss something important not moving to the last versions?

15

@jbernavaprah to go to the latest version, in the balena-cloud dashboard, select your device and in the left panel click on “Settings”. In the “OS version” section select the latest available release and then click on “Update”.

Alternatively, if you need to provision v6.10.26+rev1 directly, you can also try jetson-flash/docs/jetson-orin-nano-devkit-nvme.md at master · balena-os/jetson-flash · GitHub .

I’m currently looking into what is causing the issue you first encountered with v6.10.26+rev1