Arduino not compiling - bad CPU type in executable

Question

Recently I was attempting to upload some code on my Arduino and got this error:

****Arduino: 1.8.9 (Mac OS X), Board: "Arduino/Genuino Uno"

fork/exec /Users/Gu/Desktop/Every single yhing/coding stuff/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avr-g++: bad CPU type in executable
Error compiling for board Arduino/Genuino Uno.

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.****

I quickly learned that is was due to the macOS update Catalina no longer supporting 32-bit applications and the avr-g++ keychain tool is run through a 32-bit process.

If anyone has any solution to fix this problem please assist me.

Nette

Answer 1

Had the same problem trying to get the IDE compiling for an ESP8266, I followed the thread from the Arduino Forums linked here:

https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=620175.0

Long story short, I updated the Arduino IDE to version 1.8.13 and it worked for me on Catalina.

Cheiron

@Nette Can you accept this answer. It seems to be the correct step. – Bohannan

Answer 2

For me it worked on Catalina by:

• updating the Arduino IDE to 1.8.13
• Inside the IDE, updating "Arduino AVR Boards" to the latest version (on a Mac, Tools -> Board: "xxxx" -> Boards Manager... -> Arduino AVR Boards)

Access to Boards Manager in the IDE Arduino AVR Boards update location

Underling

Answer 3

If you have updated from the 32-bit version of the arduino IDE you may have an older version of the avr-gcc still hanging about along with version 7.3.

Check this folder:

/Users/username/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avr-gcc

If you have a 4.3 and a 7.3 folder, delete the 4.3 one and the bad CPU error disappears.

Leeannaleeanne