[GRLUG] error: invalid arch independent ELF magic

[Eric Beversluis]

On Wed, 2011-08-31 at 13:32 -0400, Michael Mol wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Eric Beversluis
> <ebever at researchintegration.org> wrote:
> > I'm getting more insight into why the Linux desktop isn't going to take
> > off like some people hope. I'm into my third day of trying to get Ubuntu
> > to work on my new Lenovo Thinkpad x120e.
> >
> > First day was spend figuring out that the computer didn't like the USB2
> > cable to my DVD drive. Then when I finally got 10.04 installed, I
> > couldn't get anything but 1080x768 resolution, even tho the computer is
> > 1360x768. After two days of bootlessly (no pun intended) trying to find
> > an answer--there are none out that that address this resolution problem
> > on this system and 10.04--I decided to try Ubuntu 11.04.
> >
> > The install seemed to go fine. I told it to reformat sda1, which is
> > where I mount root, but not to reformat sda3, where I mount /home. The
> > resolution on the installation screens looked lovely. (This problem
> > solved?)
> >
> > But when the installation completed and I tried to boot 11.04 I got this
> > strange screen:
> >   "Error: invalid arch independent ELF magic"
> >   "grub rescue>"
> >
> > Again, searching around doesn't seem to help. Lots of detailed
> > instructions that (a) do not clearly apply to this situation (many
> > dealing with dual-boot situations); and (b) go well beyond the level of
> > technical understanding that I have or want to develop.
> >
> > By the way, the 'live' version opens beautifully.
> >
> > (When I Google 'ELF magic' it seems to be all about Santa Claus. I wish
> > Santa would give me a Linux distro that "just works.")
> 
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/37692/grub-invalid-arch-independent-elf-magic-after-natty-install-on-ssd
> 
> Sounds like you might need to either install grub-efi (if the laptop
> has EFI. I don't know; EFI is relatively new to consumer systems), or
> re-install grub to the boot sector.
> 
> 
> (also, to find that link, I dropped "invalid arch independent ELF
> magic" (without the quotes) into DuckDuckGo)
> -

Thanks. I had looked at that page, but it looked like it was for a
different kind of situation, so I wasn't sure it applied.

My live CD mounts /dev/sda1 at /media/43e21...
So I tried 'sudo grub-install /media/r2e21*'

This generated this error, "cannot stat `aufs'.
Searching on this error led to this page: 
     bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/703009

which is an interminable list of "try this..no it doesn't work" and
complaints that this but was known well before 11.04 was released but
hasn't been fixed.

Re grub-efi: My bios if "UEFI Bios". But if the live version works OK,
does that imply that I don't need grub-efi? Looking around, that seems
to involve a whole new set of complications.


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