No Thunderbolt Device in Device Manager Z890 Apex

[NirXY]

For some reason it appears i'm missing the TB4 device in Device manager.

I've tried installing the drivers without any change, there isn't even an unknown device at the moment.

Thunderbolt Control Center also says "Controller driver version: N/A".

I'm on bios 1401 but remember the issue was also on 1302. No sure about versions prior to that.

Can anyone confirm if they have the same issue or not? The Thunderbolt device usually appears under System Devices in the Device manager.

[Saltgrass]

I don't normally use Thunderbolt, but I do have it enabled in the Bios and do not see it mentioned in the Device manager.

Do you have a Thunderbolt device plugged in?

[NirXY]

I connect a docking station to it, and while it works, it probably works via USB4 connection since under device manager it lists it as connected to "USB4 Root Router".

I'm only picky about thunderbolt since I want to be able to use Thunderbolt share to my laptop which also has TB4 ports.

My laptop does shows the Intel Thunderbolt device even without any connection to it. So i'm suspecting TB isn't enabled in Z890 even if it's turned on in BIOS.

[Saltgrass]

There is another thread right now where someone else was having problems.  Maybe he would have more info.

[Windsurf48]

It seems to be listed under 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' in Device Manager on my Z890 Apex.  However, it may only show there because I have a Thunderbolt 3 drive plugged into one of the Thunderbolt 4 sockets.

[NirXY]

It's probably showing the device itself, you can check the driver version, should be something like 1.41.1xxx for the actual intel device.

Problem is, it's hard to tell if we're connecting to devices via USB3.2/4 or is it actual TB connection. I used to be able to determine by using Thunderbolt control center, can you check if your device appears? (the software available through Microsoft store, free software of course).

[Saltgrass]

Does anyone know for sure you do not need an add-on card to create the USB-4 interface?

ThunderboltEX 5 - Tech Specs｜Motherboards｜ASUS Global

[Windsurf48]

You need an add-on card for Thunderbolt 5, but the Z890 Apex has two Thunderbolt 4 ports which don't need an add-on card.

[Saltgrass]

@Windsurf48 I just ordered a TB4 external drive enclosure I can test with.  I have also made sure the add-on card is not enabled and TB5 is disabled.

I will post back if I see any differences.

[Windsurf48]

I have a Fantom Venom TB3 drive running off one of the Z890 Apex TB4 ports, also with TB5 disabled since I don't have the add-on card.