Getting NVIDIA TX1 to Boot

Technical Programming
#1

Has anyone had a problem with their TX1 booting?

We have yet to get the TX1 to reliably boot. We can plug in the power supply and turn on the power. The indicator light will light like it is powered, but nothing will display via HDMI and lights on USB devices (keyboard and mouse) won’t light.

It seems like it will eventually power up hours later.

We have seen in the user manual where there is a known issue with “noise” causing boot problems.

Here is what the manual has to say.

“… On the Jetson TX1 developer kit, if there is no serial device attached and driving the 2x20 connector J21 pin 10, there can be noise on this input to the Tegra serial terminal. This noise can cause an interruption of the L4T boot process specifically in U-Boot. If you have an issue booting the system or as a preventative measure, please add a jumper across J21 pins 9 and 10. This terminates the input and prevents noise.”

We thought that may fix our problem. Here is an image of the jumper in place of what we believe are pins 9 & 10. https://goo.gl/photos/SL7vnj5jF8a5VwDR9

Thanks

Darrin Jillson
Programming Mentor
Team 3452 GreengineerZ

#2

By digging through the NVIDIA forums I found an odd workaround that worked.

Here is what we did.

  1. With the power cable disconnected, press the power button multiple times.

  2. Connect the power cable and press the power button to start TX1.

  3. After a couple of minutes connect the HDMI cable.

It was from this post. https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/946673/?comment=4920862

We plan on contacting NVIDIA to see if this is a hardware issue and should we do an RMA.

#3

We ended up determining we had a bad carrier board and that was the cause of our problem. We did a quick RMA with Nvidia and they replaced it. We also discovered that we needed to make sure the voltage to supply to the Jetson is on the higher end of the range. It requires a higher voltage at startup than it does to keep the Jetson powered during a match.

-Darrin

“Just as electricity transformed almost everything 100 years ago, today I actually have a hard time thinking of an industry that I don’t think AI (Artificial Intelligence) will transform in the next several years.” ~Andrew Ng

#4

This might help you: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AoeIFF3kKoX3-IzGBw2naoREyNXJA3SDAEPcFOD_VM/edit?usp=sharing

#5

From mashall’s doc

Powering the TX1 is tricky. From experience. it does not function well with large power fluctuations. Nvidia’s engineers have released a few versions of the carrier board to help with this but you will still want to run a voltage regulator between the board and the power supply. Team 900 has had a lot of success with this particular convert from DROK in actual FRC competitions: http://a.co/aaISgDh

We’ve found this to be very true on some robots outside of FRC where a single BAG motor could cause brownouts on a TX1. Pololu also has a range of buck/boost regulators, but I don’t know if those are high enough power for TX1.

#6

We have used the TX1 and TX2 as our primary processor at Uni on our Mars Rover for the past two years, we found the easiest way to keep the TX1/2 from browning out was to have it power from a secondary battery.

Also, it is suggested that you run the TX1/2 at the higher end of its accepted voltage, as well as ensure that the power supply you are using is capable of supplying the required about of amperage.

Another simple work around to prevent browning out; take a huge capacitors and place them between the ground and voltage in.

I have personally never tested this but I cant see a reason why it would not work as long as the capacitor is large enough.

#7

Yes… definitely put large capacitors on your robot. Absolutely.

#8

We never tried that… right Marshall?

#9

It was definitely used to keep the Jetson powered. Back in those days we didn’t have USB as an option.

#10