Can I use amd64 installers on Intel based systems?

Question

I'm new to Ubuntu. I installed ubuntu-13.04-server-amd64 on MSI h67ma-e35(b3). After system reboot, I only get a "blinking underscore" _.

I have tried multiple time to reinstall. I boot from the correct drive.

Can the image I'm using for AMD systems be used for Intel based systems as well?

the amd64 version of Ubuntu is just a normal 64-bit version, it's called amd 64 since amd developed it. Intel developed the old x86-32-bit. — Alvar, Sep 26 '13 at 09:56
@Alvar, you probably meant that AMD developed processor architecture rather than it developed Ubuntu version ;) — Danatela, Sep 26 '13 at 10:07
For the question in the title, see Is the 64-Bit version of Ubuntu only compatible with AMD CPUs? — Eliah Kagan, Aug 21 '17 at 14:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

AMD64 is for systems with 64 bit architectures (both Intel and AMD), whilst i386 is for 32-bit architectures (both Intel and AMD). 64 bit systems will run i386 version of Ubuntu, but not the other way around.

Based on your Motherboard, I would assume your CPU is 64 bit?

Have a look at the following post - My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it?

Black screen or "you need to load kernel first" and "can not read file/cd0"

errors when installing to an UEFI capable machine: Ubuntu's installer when attempting to run in UEFI mode will hang and stop due to different manufacturers implementing the UEFI specification in different ways will hang differently. To identify if your machine is booting installer UEFI mode you will see

REF: UEFI Community Ubuntu Documentation Section 2.4

If your machine is CSM capable (which is a full UEFI implementation with an emulated BIOS layer) after selecting any option from grub list system will hang at a black screen. The picture above actually only confirms DVD/USB booted using UEFI and there will be some means in firmware settings to ensure drives are booted in order to make UEFI installer run - the solution to which may possibly be as simple as ensuring SATA set to AHCI - check your vendors manual to check this. Also check UEFI Community Documentation Section 2.3 for more details.

What you need to check is first disable SECURE BOOT in firmware settings. If that does not get Ubuntu installer running - Try disabling anything mentioning UEFI in firmware settings. Or If you can not find UEFI settings then enable CSM - this will disable the UEFI booting of installer and then allow a legacy/bios install of Ubuntu. Installing grub-efi afterwards will allow UEFI to be re-enabled. Again refer to UEFI Community Ubuntu Documentation this time at Section 4

Some machines use a full BIOS with an emulated UEFI layer which may throw errors as described ie "you need to load the kernel first" and "can not read file/cd0" Not all of these machines implement Secure Boot. Simply selecting UEFI in BIOS settings will configure UEFI mode on hard drives. The information above may still be relative to your machine though regarding this. There is no solution for these errors and the workaround is to disable UEFI to enable Ubuntu installer to run in legacy mode. After which boot-repair can be used to install grub-efi which then allows/needs UEFI switched back on before Ubuntu will boot using UEFI. Once again referring to UEFI Community Ubuntu Documentation at Section 4

so you mean a 32-bit AMD computer can't use the 32-bit version of Ubuntu? — Alvar, Sep 26 '13 at 10:12
A 32bit AMD computer can use the 32 bit version of Ubuntu. is386 was just named after the intel 386 processor — Tom, Sep 28 '13 at 12:42
"whilst i386 is for 32-bit Intel architectures." this sounds like AMD can't use it. I know you didn't mean it but it sounds like it. — Alvar, Sep 28 '13 at 13:26

Can I use amd64 installers on Intel based systems?

1 Answers1