Need camera for AVerMedia EN715 carrier board amid Nvidia board shortage

Nvidia Jetson Cameras
1

Hi, I’m trying to get an Arducam IMX477 camera working on my Jetson Xavier NX but I can’t install the driver at all. I followed the instructions from the Arducam page “IMX477 - How to install the Driver” but when I run the install command I get an error and the driver never installs. Honestly I never got this camera to work from the beginning. What I really need is a camera that works with the EN715 carrier board, because it is very difficult for us to get an official Nvidia board right now. Any help would be appreciated.

2

Hi, sorry to hear it’s not going smoothly. Let’s dig in. Can you tell me a bit more about your setup?

  • Which Jetson module are you using (Xavier NX, Nano, etc.), and is it the eMMC-only version?
  • Which carrier board are you using?
  • Which JetPack / L4T version is on it?
  • And can you paste the exact command you ran plus the full output you got?
3

Sure. Setup is:

  • Jetson Xavier NX module (eMMC only)
  • EN715 carrier board from AVerMedia (this is a third-party board, not the Nvidia devkit)
  • JetPack 4.6, L4T version L4T_32.6.1

The product is the Arducam IMX477 for Jetson Nano/Xavier NX.

The command I ran was from the doc you linked:

jetson@ubuntu:~/Arducam$ sudo dpkg -i arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel-t194-4.9.253-tegra-32.6.1-20211009014634_arm64_imx477.deb

And the error I get is:

Setting up arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel (4.9.253-tegra-32.6.1-20211009014634) …
An unknown error occurred while installing dtoverlays.
dpkg: error processing package arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel (–install):
installed arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 255
Errors were encountered while processing:
arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel

4

Thanks, that’s very helpful. The key line is “An unknown error occurred while installing dtoverlays.” That happens during the package’s post-installation script, when it tries to apply the device-tree overlays that the driver needs.

A couple of quick things to confirm:

  1. Did you modify or replace the device tree on your board at any point, or is it the stock EN715 image?
  2. Can you paste the full terminal log of the dpkg command, not just the last lines? There’s usually a bit more output above the error.
  3. Have you tried any other troubleshooting so far?
5

Here’s the full log as best I can capture it:

[sudo] password for jetson:
<<<< omitted in the middle >>>>
Setting up arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel (4.9.253-tegra-32.6.1-20211009014634) …
An unknown error occurred while installing dtoverlays.
dpkg: error processing package arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel (–install):
installed arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 255
Errors were encountered while processing:
arducam-nvidia-l4t-kernel

To answer your question: no, I have not done any additional troubleshooting. This is a stock EN715 image with JetPack 4.6, I did not touch the device tree myself.

6

Okay, that changes things. Here’s what I think is going on.

The Arducam IMX477 driver package is built to install its dtoverlays against a specific device-tree layout - the one used on the official (Arducam/Nvidia) boards. Your EN715 is a third-party carrier board from AVerMedia, and Arducam does not make an adaptation of the IMX477 driver for that board. Because the board’s device tree doesn’t match what the post-install script expects, the dtoverlay step fails with that “unknown error” and the whole package errors out at exit status 255.

So this isn’t a mistake on your side or a bad install - the driver simply isn’t adapted for the EN715. The Arducam IMX477 driver is currently only supported on the official board.

7

I understand, but that’s a real problem for us. It’s very hard to get an official Nvidia board here, which is exactly why we went with the EN715 in the first place. Is there really no way to make the IMX477 work on the EN715? Even a manual dtoverlay patch or a different driver build? I’m willing to do the work if you can point me in the right direction.

8

I hear you, and I know the board availability situation is rough. Honestly, there isn’t a supported manual workaround I can hand you here - adapting the driver for the EN715 means porting the IMX477 overlays and the kernel driver to AVerMedia’s device tree, and that’s board-specific engineering work, not just a config tweak.

The right path for this is a customization request. If the camera has to run on the EN715, please contact the Arducam pre-sales team at [email protected] and tell them you need the IMX477 adapted for the AVerMedia EN715 carrier board on JetPack 4.6 / L4T 32.6.1. They can scope out what a dedicated customization would take.

Quick summary of where we landed:

  • Setup: Jetson Xavier NX (eMMC only) + AVerMedia EN715 + JetPack 4.6 / L4T_32.6.1
  • Symptom: dpkg -i of the IMX477 driver fails with “An unknown error occurred while installing dtoverlays” and post-install exit status 255
  • Root cause: the EN715 is a third-party carrier board Arducam hasn’t adapted the IMX477 driver for; the driver only supports the official board, so the dtoverlay step fails
  • Next step: email [email protected] to request a customization for the EN715

Feel free to open a new thread if you get a customized build and run into issues.