Zorin OS 18.1 Pro freezes during boot on ASUS Z890 Hero + Intel Core Ultra 7 270K

Installing Zorin OS
1

Zorin OS 18.1 Pro does not boot on ASUS Z890 Hero + Intel Core Ultra 7 270K

Hello everyone,

I am trying to install Zorin OS 18.1 Pro on a new system, but the installer does not boot successfully.

Hardware

  • ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero
  • Intel Core Ultra 7 270K (Arrow Lake)
  • NVIDIA RTX 4080
  • 32 GB DDR5 (2×16 GB)
  • BIOS version 3202
  • Intel iGPU disabled in BIOS
  • XMP disabled
  • Secure Boot disabled
  • Fast Boot disabled

Problem

Initially, the system produced kernel panic messages such as:

Timeout: Not all CPUs entered broadcast exception handler

Using:

intel_idle.max_cstate=0

allowed the boot process to continue further.

After that, I received Intel graphics / IOMMU related errors such as:

i915 [drm] ERROR
GT0: GUC: TLB invalidation response timed out
DMAR: VT-d detected Invalidation Time-out Error

I then:

  • Disabled the Intel iGPU in BIOS
  • Booted with:

intel_iommu=off

Those errors disappeared.

Current state

The system now boots much further.

The screen shows mostly successful systemd messages:

[ OK ] ...

and eventually stops without reaching the graphical desktop.

There is no obvious kernel panic anymore.

The last visible messages are normal systemd startup messages and the system appears to freeze before the graphical environment becomes available.

Additional testing

I have tested:

  • Zorin OS 18.1 Pro
  • Ubuntu Desktop
  • Fedora Workstation

All show similar boot issues on this hardware.

I have also tested:

  • HDMI instead of DisplayPort
  • nomodeset
  • intel_idle.max_cstate=0
  • intel_iommu=off

No permanent solution so far.

Important observation

The exact same Linux ISOs boot successfully on another Arrow Lake system with:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 265K

In addition, Zorin OS runs perfectly inside VirtualBox on this machine.

Because of this, I suspect a firmware/BIOS compatibility issue involving the ASUS Z890 Hero (BIOS 3202), rather than a corrupted ISO or installation media.

Has anyone successfully installed Zorin OS on a Z890 Hero or a similar Arrow Lake platform?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

2

Hello and welcome,
I see you have an Nvidia GPU, in Grub you can add after intel_iommu=off 

nomodeset

then boot and if it boot we will see to install proper drivers

3

That Fedora doesn't work, too ...

Did You checked the Checksums of the ISO's? What Tool did You use to create the Bootstick? Is Your BIOS in UEFI or Legacy Mode?

1 Like
4

Thank you for your suggestion.

I already tested "nomodeset" together with "intel_iommu=off", but unfortunately the system still freezes before reaching the graphical desktop.

Initially I had kernel panic messages such as:

"Timeout: Not all CPUs entered broadcast exception handler"

After using "intel_idle.max_cstate=0" and disabling the Intel iGPU, the system boots much further, but it still hangs before the desktop appears.

Because Ubuntu and Fedora show similar behaviour on the same hardware, I am starting to suspect a firmware/BIOS compatibility issue rather than a Zorin-specific graphics driver problem.

5

Thank you.

The ISO checksums are correct. I created the USB sticks with Rufus using GPT/UEFI mode and the system is running in pure UEFI mode (CSM/Legacy disabled).

I tested multiple USB sticks and multiple distributions:

  • Zorin OS 18.1 Pro
  • Ubuntu Desktop
  • Fedora Workstation

All show similar boot issues on this machine.

Interestingly, the same ISOs boot successfully on another Arrow Lake system, and Zorin also runs perfectly in VirtualBox on this PC.

That is why I currently suspect a BIOS/firmware issue related to my ASUS Z890 Hero (BIOS 3202).

6

Could be, yes. I'm wondering that Fedora has the same Issue. Is this Board a really new one? I mean is it a new Release?

Also: Did You tried Arch or an Arch-based Distro to see if this happens there, too?

1 Like
7

Yes, the ASUS Z890 Hero is a very recent board and the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K is also part of Intel's latest Arrow Lake platform.

I have not tested Arch Linux yet. So far I have tested:

  • Zorin OS 18.1 Pro
  • Ubuntu Desktop
  • Fedora Workstation

All show similar behaviour on this system.

I can try an Arch-based distribution next (for example EndeavourOS) to see whether a newer kernel changes anything. If it boots successfully, that would be a very useful clue.

1 Like
8

Well, yes. When the Board is very new, it could be that You need a current Kernel even for booting. But Fedora should offer that ... but okay. IF You fine with check Endeavour or CachyOS it could be helpful to see if they work.

9

Thank you.

That makes sense. I was also surprised that Fedora shows similar behaviour, because I expected its newer kernel to handle the hardware better.

I will test CachyOS next and report back with the results. If an Arch-based distribution boots successfully while Zorin, Ubuntu and Fedora do not, that would be a very useful clue.

Thank you for your help.

1 Like
10

I tested again and noticed something new.

The cursor eventually stops blinking completely and the system appears to freeze.

I also noticed ACPI BIOS errors during boot:

ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Failure creating named object
AE_ALREADY_EXISTS
ACPI Error: Aborting method ...

This seems to point more towards an ACPI/firmware issue rather than only a graphics driver problem.

Does this look like a BIOS compatibility problem on the ASUS Z890 Hero?

Next I try an older version of the bios [flashback]

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113601080×1440 145 KB

11

Interesting update:

I downgraded the BIOS from 3202 to 3103 for testing.

With BIOS 3103 the situation is actually worse. I now get the original kernel panic again:

"Kernel panic - not syncing: Timeout: Not all CPUs entered broadcast exception handler"

With BIOS 3202 the system was able to boot much further before freezing.

So at the moment it seems that BIOS 3202 improved the situation rather than causing it.

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113611440×1080 165 KB

12

I read something about XMP profile on this motherboard, could you check and enable it ?

1 Like
13

you can read this

and this

14

Thank you for the links.

I have already checked XMP and it is disabled. The system is running at stock settings with 2x16 GB DDR5.

What makes me unsure about a faulty CPU is that Windows 11 is completely stable. I can run stress tests and demanding workloads without crashes, BSODs or WHEA errors. Linux also runs perfectly inside VirtualBox.

The issue only appears when booting Linux natively. I tested Zorin OS, Ubuntu, Fedora and CachyOS. Depending on the BIOS version and kernel parameters, the system either freezes during boot or ends with a kernel panic ("Timeout: Not all CPUs entered broadcast exception handler").

Because the same installation media work on another Arrow Lake system, I currently suspect a firmware/BIOS issue with my ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero, although I cannot completely rule out a hardware issue yet.

15

that's why I said to enable XMP, this is what i read in many forum for your problem.
If you read the links you will see that.
another one

17

Thank you for the clarification.

I misunderstood your previous message. XMP is currently disabled on my system, but I have not tested Linux with XMP enabled yet.

I will enable the XMP profile and test again with Zorin, Fedora and CachyOS. If the behavior changes, I will report back with the results.

It's certainly unusual, but if others with Z890 + Arrow Lake systems have solved similar boot issues by enabling XMP, it is worth testing.

18

If it doesn't work I also suggest you to try to change your kernel to liquorix like this

Boot into a Live Environment

  • Boot from a Zorin Live USB.
  • Select “Try Zorin” instead of installing.

List disks and partitions:

lsblk

or

sudo fdisk -l

You’ll see something like this based on your own disks and partitions. You may see sda1 or something instead of nvme01 but its all right.

/dev/nvme0n1p1 Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p2 EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p3 Linux swap

Mount the Installed System

Now we need to mount the Root Partition and the EFI Partition (If present), then bind essential system directories.

sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt
sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot/efi
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount -t devpts devpts /mnt/dev/pts

sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf

Enter the Installed System (chroot)

Switch into the mounted system:

sudo chroot /mnt

Installing new kernel

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:damentz/liquorix
sudo apt update && sudo apt install linux-image-liquorix-amd64

Exit the chroot Environment

Leave the chrootand unmount virtual file systems in reverse order:

exit
sudo umount /mnt/dev/pts
sudo umount /mnt/dev
sudo umount /mnt/sys
sudo umount /mnt/proc
sudo umount /mnt/boot/efi
sudo umount /mnt

Restart the computer:

sudo reboot
19

Thank you for the suggestion.

Before modifying my installed system, I tested several live environments:

  • Zorin OS 18.1 Pro
  • Ubuntu Desktop
  • Fedora Workstation
  • CachyOS

All of them show similar behavior. CachyOS also freezes during boot and sometimes ends with a kernel panic:

"Timeout: Not all CPUs entered broadcast exception handler"

I have also tested several BIOS configurations:

  • XMP enabled and disabled
  • BIOS downgraded from a newer version to 3103
  • nomodeset boot parameter
  • Different USB configurations (minimal devices connected)

Unfortunately none of these changed the behavior.

Windows 11 runs completely stable on the same hardware without crashes or BSODs, which makes me think the hardware itself is probably okay.

Because the issue already happens in multiple live environments, including CachyOS, I am wondering if this is related to the ASUS Z890 Hero firmware, Arrow Lake CPU initialization, APIC settings, microcode, or another BIOS-related Linux compatibility issue rather than the Ubuntu kernel itself.

Would you still recommend trying Liquorix, or should I first focus on BIOS settings and firmware troubleshooting?

Here is a picture i had with xmp enabled

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113901440×1080 147 KB

20

you can try Liquorix, it may support your hardware, but no guaranty.
The guide I provided is for Zorin but you can adapt it to Ubuntu, but it will work only on an installed OS
you can also try from grub to run a memtest

21

"Unfortunately I don't have an installed Linux system yet. The issue happens already with the live media, so I cannot reach the installation stage. Because of that I currently cannot test Liquorix."