invalid arch-independant ELF magic

Linux Support
1

HI Ive bravely tried to install mint cin on an old windows laptop using a bootbale usb i have changed the order in the boot menu so that the usb is first booted. however now im getting a black screen saying GRUB error : invalid arch-independant ELF magic

Ive looked online at various commands but all say ‘unknown command’
Im still trying to get my head around linux .
i now have a laptop that doesnt work at all

any help will be appreciated thanks in advance

2

Hi Jeng.

Not sure I can help with this, but can you tell us:

  1. Did you actually manage to install Mint?
  2. If so, did you try to install over Windows or alongside it?

Keith

3

Well i tried to install, but it said it failed
so i thought something was wrong with the stick (so made a fresh new bootable stick)
then when ive tried to open up the laptop booted from the usb stick, im getting the grub message
on the F2 boot menu I changed the order of boot priority with the usb stick being number one

ITs quite an old laptop (2012) so maybe putting linux on this isnt viable?

jen

4

Linux will work fine on a 2012 laptop providing you use the appropriate 32 or 64 bit version.
What is the computer manufacture and model?

And did you install Linux over Windows or alongside it?

5

over it
aspire 57352

tried gparted to delete partitions-(as advised to) however the gparted will not completly load

6
  1. Who advised you to delete partitions? - This can be frought with problems and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are very confident.
  2. As far as I can tell, your cpu has “64-bit support” - does that mean it is 32-bit? What did you download?
  3. Perhaps your live-USB Mint is be faulty. Did you check the md5sum (or equivalent) of the ISO download?
7

I think you’ll find that should be Acer Aspire 5735Z (not a 2 at the end). I have one and am currently running MX Linux 64 bit on it with no problems at all.

The reason it shows as 64 bit support or 64 bit capable is that it dates from a time when virtually all computers manufactured were 64 bit, but the vast majority only came with 32 bit operating systems installed.

One excuse is that there was no demand for 64 bit. The other option is that Microsoft could sell 64 bit OS’s at a premium price.