Reset/Update your ZED Box Orin NX

Update/Reset #

At the time of writing this tutorial, NVIDIA SDK Manager does not support the automatic flashing of the Orin NX modules. Instead, you have to manually flash the board using NVidia’s BSP for the JetPack version you desire to install. The procedure is described in the last section of this document Manually flashing the ZED Box Orin NX model.

After flashing successfully the ZED Box, you are ready to reinstall the corresponding ZED SDK for your Nvidia JetPack version.

You must also install the latest version of the ZED X driver, even if you don’t have a GMSL connector. Otherwise, you won’t have access to the WiFi and some USB 3.0 ports will not work.

Force Recovery mode #

It is not required to open the ZED Box to force it into Recovery mode.

Here is the procedure to automatically start the ZED Box in Force Recovery mode:

  • power off the device.
  • connect a micro USB cable to the host PC performing the upgrade/reset.
  • connect the cable to the micro USB port of the device labeled as OTG.
  • power on the device.

If the above procedure does not work and your ZED Box is in working status, you can force the “Recovery Mode” with the command line below.

Please be careful with the syntax of the command.

$ sudo reboot --force forced-recovery

You can verify that the ZED Box has correctly started in “Recovery Mode” by entering this command in a command line console of the host PC:

$ lsusb -d '0955:'

If the model of the ZED Box is ORIN NX 16, then a device with VID:PID 0955:7323 should be listed.

Note: If the Linux install is broken and you can’t enter recovery mode this way, please follow the instructions in Entering recovery mode with a broken Linux install below.

Manually flashing the ZED Box Orin NX model #

As of now, NVIDIA SDK Manager does not support flashing Orin NX modules. You will need to complete the following procedure “manually”:

  • Open a terminal console.
  • Verify that the ZED Box is in “Force Recovery” mode and flash it using this script with the following command:
    $ BSP_ROOT=./stereolabs_bsp/ ./zed_box_orin_nx_recovery_flash.sh
  • You need 30GB of free space on your working hard drive, all necessary files will be downloaded in $BSP_ROOT. The script will create this folder and will ask you to log as root.
  • Wait for the operation to complete. You will see the following output if the flash is successful:

Note: The default credentials of your ZED Box are:

  • username: user
  • password: admin

Note: You have to install the latest ZED X driver to get a fully functioning ZED Box, even if you do not have the GMSL option. This is required for the Wi-Fi module for instance.

If you encounter any problems during this procedure, you can contact the support team by sending an email to support@stereolabs.com.

Entering recovery mode with a broken Linux install #

If your Linux install is broken, the board won’t be able to boot. Hence, you will not be able to enter recovery mode or retrieve your files.

This tutorial will help you recover from such a situation. To complete it, you will need an 8GB or larger USB 3.0 disk that will be flashed with JetPack 5.1.1 (L4T35.3).

Be careful, all the information stored in the USB disk will be wiped during the procedure.

Below are the step-by-step instructions to flash your USB disk.

Setting up the USB disk #

  • Plug a USB disk to any linux host machine
  • Download the script
  • Install the necessary dependencies:
    $ sudo apt install qemu-user-static abootimg libxml2-utils sshpass nfs-kernel-server
  • Use lsblk to identify the USB disk you want to flash. In the caption below, we can identify that the USB disk ID is sda:
  • You need to specify the USB disk you want to install it on (e.g. sda), as well as the working directory you want to create for that matter (e.g. ./stereolabs_bsp).
  • Please be careful and use the name of the drive and not the name of a partition. For instance, use sda instead of sda1.
  • Launch the script to flash your disk. The operation requires 30GB of free space. You need to specify the USB disk you want to install it on (e.g. sda) and the working directory you want to create (e.g. ./stereolabs_bsp). It will ask you to log in as root several times. Replace the BSP_ROOT and SDX variables with yours in this command:
    $ BSP_ROOT=./stereolabs_bsp SDX=sda ./zed_box_orin_nx_recovery_flash.sh
  • Upon success, you will read the following message:
  • The USB drive is now flashed. You will have to run almost the same command to flash the ZED Box later.

Note: You can use the same BSP_ROOT directory to flash your ZED Box once it is in recovery mode. This allows you to skip the download and unpack sections of the script.

Booting from the USB disk #

  • Shut down your ZED Box.

  • Plug your USB disk into the single vertical USB type A port of the ZED Box Orin NX.

  • Power the ZED Box and wait for it to boot from USB, it will take some time.

  • You may now open a terminal and enter the following command to reboot into force recovery mode (please be careful with the syntax of the command):

    $ sudo reboot --force forced-recovery

  • From a host PC, you can now check that you are in recovery mode using the lsusb command:

    $ lsusb -d '0955:'

  • If the model of the ZED Box is ORIN NX 16, then a device with VID:PID 0955:7323 should be listed.

  • Remove the USB drive from the ZED Box.

  • Follow the instructions in Manually flashing the ZED Box Orin NX model

If you encounter any problems during this procedure, you can contact the support team by sending an email to support@stereolabs.com.