Z890 motherboards are having instability issues with Windows 11 24H2 — BIOS updates or disable iGPUd required to update Windows

Reports recently emerged that a significant portion of Intel Z890 motherboards were impacted by severe Windows 11 24H2 update issues. The first major report was posted by Spanish PC hardware site El Chapuzas Informatico, citing an Asus tech support response.

This issue has been narrowed down to users of Intel Core Ultra 200S series CPUs since those CPUs still have integrated Iris Xe-LPG graphics that are apparently playing badly with this update. While desktop users are less likely to rely on integrated graphics than laptop users, it's still problematic for Intel to have such a major issue with its integrated graphics plaguing customers during Arrow Lake launch week.

To apply the Windows 11 24H2 Update without issues on an Intel Z890 chipset-equipped motherboard, the iGPU must be disabled within BIOS, or the BIOS of your Intel Z890 motherboard must be updated ahead of time. Fortunately, all major vendors (Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI) know this issue and should already have it patched for your board...but mainly, if you intend to use your Intel iGPU, a BIOS update is critical. Specific instructions for entering and updating your BIOS will vary depending on your board. Still, the ability to download and apply updates within BIOS is common enough these days that you shouldn't have much of an issue getting the update applied.

Of course, while many are giving Intel justified flak for this issue, let's not ignore the elephant in the room: this is just one of many issues plaguing the rollout of Windows 11 24H2. Other problems with the launch of Windows 11 24H2, aka "the Windows 11 2024 Update", have included BSODs for Western Digital NVMe drive users, a strange 8.63 GB cache error, and even some Easy Anti-Cheat compatibility problems, rendering titles like Asphalt 8 unplayable.

This isn't to say it's all doom and gloom for Windows 11 users. The actual update process has been optimized as of 24H2, and features like improved gamepad keyboard input have been popping up in newer Windows 11 Previews as well. However, it is fair for users to expect someone at Microsoft or Intel to have seen and fixed this fundamental iGPU compatibility issue before the Arrow Lake launch.