Why does the ZED SDK report "Unknown" model and incorrect serial number for my ZED X camera?

Last updated: October 23, 2026

In some cases, a GMSL2 camera of the ZED X family that was previously working correctly may suddenly be reported by the ZED SDK as Model: "Unknown" with an incorrect serial number (for example, S/N: 166). This can happen even when the GMSL2 link, image sensors, and V4L2 video nodes all appear to be working normally. The camera may be detected as AVAILABLE, but the ZED SDK cannot open it, and launching the ZED ROS 2 Wrapper results in errors such as:

Cannot find a valid camera.
Camera Open Internal Error: 3
CAMERA FAILED TO SETUP

Cause

This behavior indicates that the identity information stored in the camera EEPROM (serial number and model) is corrupted or misread. The first byte of the zed_eeprom_data reported via V4L2 corresponds to the incorrect serial number shown by the ZED SDK (for example, 0xA6 = decimal 166). The issue has been observed after reflashing the NVIDIA® Jetson™ device with a different JetPack/L4T version.

Solution

StereoLabs can provide a restore script specific to your camera:

  1. Write to support@stereolabs.com with the physical serial number of the camera (printed on the label on the camera body) and a description of the issue.

  2. Our support team will send you a restore script and the instructions to run it.

  3. Make sure that only one camera is connected to the Jetson before running the script.

  4. Run the script on the Jetson as described in the instructions you received, for example:

    chmod +x RESTORE_SCRIPT.sh
./RESTORE_SCRIPT.sh SERIAL_NUMBER

  5. When the script completes, reboot the Jetson, or restart the ZED X daemon with sudo systemctl restart zed_x_daemon, then verify that the ZED SDK reports the correct model and serial number (for example with ZED_Explorer --all).

Note: unplugging and replugging a GMSL2 camera is not a valid method to reset it; always reboot the Jetson or restart the daemon.

If the EEPROM cannot be restored remotely, our support team will guide you through the RMA procedure; see How do I request an RMA for a defective ZED Box or StereoLabs device?