error 13: invalid or unsupported executable format

mvephoto · n00b Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Winnipeg, MB

Hello everyone!

I am new to Linux - only have begun playing with different options/distros a few months back, and slowly getting my bearings.

Tried to do a stage 3 install 2005.1 on my laptop and at boot, this pops up on my otherwise black screen:

Booting 'Gentoo Linux 2.6.12-r6'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /kernel-2.6.12-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda3

Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format

Press any key to continue...

When I press any key to continue, I am presented with a splashscreen that gives me the option to boot Gentoo Linux 2.6.12-r6, which brings me right back to the screen I mentioned earlier, or "e" to edit this line, or type a "c" for the command line.

I realize you probably want to see my grub.conf, /etc/fstab and perhaps the path to my kernel, and I'm working on that as I'm getting a live distro to get these outputs. In the meantime, perhaps someone can tell me where I should be looking for a solution?

From what I can tell, this "error 13" happens sometimes to dual, or multiple boot systems. This is a brand new harddrive that hasn't seen anything but this Gentoo install.

Thanks for your assistance!
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:36 pm Post subject:

mvephoto,

You kernel file is not in the correct format. You probably copied the wrong file to /boot.
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NeddySeagoon

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mvephoto · n00b Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Winnipeg, MB

You're probably correct. I just received that same feedback from an aquaintance (not thru this forum). My question is this: considering my limited familiarity with Linux - would it be wiser to start over again with a fresh install, or is a repair of the damage done sowewhat easy to execute?

If you are inclined to answer me, I would appreciate a clear "how-to" aka "step-by-step" if at all possible. Although I realize I'm taking up your time by asking this.

Thanks for the quick response, forum!
_________________
there are 10 kinds of people who can read binary - those who can and those who cannot

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject:

mvephoto,

You almost never need to start over. Thats a bad habit you aquired with another OS.
The fix for this is almost a one liner.

Boot the liveCD
mount your root partition on /mnt/gentoo
mount your boot partition on /mnt/gentoo/boot
Now copy the kernel file over with

mvephoto · n00b Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Winnipeg, MB

and the result is.....

gentoo login: _

THANKS!!

I don't really know where I went wrong during the install - although it was interesting to see that I got asked if I wanted to overwrite that exact file, meaning "/mnt/gentoo/boot/kernel-2.6.12-gentoo-r6" - to which I answered "y" ofcourse.

Thanks again. I'll be back for more, I'm sure! :lol:

_________________
there are 10 kinds of people who can read binary - those who can and those who cannot