New Dual Boot -- boot error: invalid arch independent ELF magic. grub rescue

[Race577]

I am stuck. Can't boot into anything w/o LiveCd

New HP p7-1108p with Windows 7 already installed.

Setting up Dual Boot w/Ubuntu 12.04. (Old computer had XP and Ubuntu 10.10)

Resized Window 7 OS partition with GParted, to make room for 12.04.

Could not set up separate / and /home partition because Windows 7 using 3 partitions already, so I just let 12.04 install in new unallocated space.

Initially it worked fine. After getting most everything tweaked, I made the mistake of using the computer Janitor. Thought I could clean up the packages that I had loaded and then didn't use.

After reboot, I get:


error: invalid arch independent ELF magic. grub rescueHere is what I have done so far.

Used LiveCD/terminal to try and fix problem. (no success)

At some point I tried to apply this suggestion to my setup:

Used GParted to remove new partitions and reinstalled 12.04
same result (did it twice)

Saw http://askubuntu.com/questions/72003/grub-invalid-arch-independent-elf-magic-after-11-10-install-on-macbook-pro-5/72995#72995


The solution for me was (and probably for anyone having that problem):

Boot into the live cd and type into the terminal (of course you must edit the mounting operations respecting your own partition table):

sudo apt-get install grub-efi-amd64
sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

Now grubx64.efi should boot without any problems.Tried to apply this to my Partition layout, but did not get it to work.

Eventually used GParted to remove HP RECOVERY partition (I know this is a bad idea, but I made recovery disks before hand.)

Installed 12.04 with / and /home partitions.

Still have same error msg.


ATTACHED is what GParted shows now.



Here is my Boot Info Script (gotten from http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/)


Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos5)/boot/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files:

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 206,847 204,800 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 206,848 123,086,847 122,880,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 123,086,848 162,148,351 39,061,504 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 162,150,398 1,953,523,711 1,791,373,314 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1,933,993,984 1,953,523,711 19,529,728 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 162,150,400 1,933,633,535 1,771,483,136 83 Linux


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 F45E22585E2213C0 ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 06EA2350EA233AF7 ntfs OS
/dev/sda3 ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a ext4 /
/dev/sda5 64f141e3-3959-4649-b8e1-ceeb1dc38afe swap
/dev/sda6 ea43b534-bc93-4c1a-8ae3-c9905d6ee955 ext4 /home
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS amd64

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda3 /media/sda3 ext4 (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)


=========================== sda3/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
}
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "${linux_gfx_mode}" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-23-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-23-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
echo 'Loading Linux 3.2.0-23-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root F45E22585E2213C0
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda2)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 06EA2350EA233AF7
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda3/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda3 during installation
UUID=ca32f228-8c31-45a8-a895-09d1b3eec52a / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=ea43b534-bc93-4c1a-8ae3-c9905d6ee955 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=64f141e3-3959-4649-b8e1-ceeb1dc38afe none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda3: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

= boot/grub/core.img 1
= boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
= boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic 2
= boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic 1
= initrd.img 2
= vmlinuz 1

========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdb sdc sdd sde sdf

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled inCan someone PLEASE help me? :confused:

[oldfred]

There is a different version of grub2 for UEFI systems that is grub-efi. You do not have efi, so that will not work. And you do not have a separate /boot so you should not mount that.

Your MBR is looking for the rest of grub files in sda5, but that is swap? Your instal is in sda3

sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
# The above command should work but they now suggest this command for grub 1.99 with Natty 11.04 or later - uses boot not root.:
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda

Then after you boot into your install
sudo update-grub

Alternatively you can use Boot-Repair

Boot Repair -Also handles LVM, GPT, separate /boot and UEFI dual boot.:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
You can repair many boot issues with this or 'Create BootInfo' report (Other Options) & post the link it creates, so we can see your exact configuration an diagnose advanced problems.

[Race577]

Thank you oldfred, your help and skills are greatly appreciated.

I had used Boot-Repair earlier, after the initial install and had everything booting up fine, but when I messed it up later, I did not think to use it again.

[gordintoronto]

... Could not set up separate / and /home partition because Windows 7 using 3 partitions already, so I just let 12.04 install in new unallocated space.

You could have set up a fourth partition as an "Extended" partition, and within it, create as many partitions as you need, such as root, home and swap.

[anshuhim20]

Dear List,
I had re-installed Ubuntu 12.04 from live CD
This is a dual boot system because I had windows and the newly installed UBUNTU on my system
But Error is
"Invalid arch independent ELF magic"
For this I had tried both the options
No. 1
With the Live Ubuntu CD click try Ubuntu
then Connected to "internet"
Then I tried the two commands

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repaireven then I errors with ppa:yannubuntu

No. 2
Using Linux secure remix
But the disk written is not detected by the system and again the error comes
"Invalid arch independent ELF magic"

Please gube WHat to do ?

[oldfred]

Installing Boot-Repair into your live installer should work. If you copy & pasted commands it works. But if typing sometimes even spaces are vital.

Often the ELF magic issue is imcompatible versions of grub. Did you have an old install's grub boot loader in the MBR and not install the new version into the MBR?