24.2 Original files crashing Illustrator

[me.rebeccajayne@gmail.com]

Running Adobe Illustrator 24.2; Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.
Intel core i7 6700K @ 4.00 GHz
32.0GB Dual-channel RAM @ 1500MHz
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU

Since the update to 24.2, I cannot open any .ai files without Illustrator crashing; it requests me to relink my files or confirm the colour mode of embedded images and then stops responding. 
I am doing time-sensitive work, please look into this. Sometimes it will allow me to open Illustrator by itself, but then crashes when opening through it.

[Monika Gause]

Does Illustrator launch correctly?

Is a printer connected, set up as default printer and turned on?

If not, please set up a PDF printer. Does that work?

[me.rebeccajayne@gmail.com · Accepted solution]

After some investigating, I've just discovered that if you don't have GPU performance support on, Illustrator is crashing upon opening .ai files whether through the file or from Illustrator File>Open... So when my GPU was being upgraded I had to go with on-board motherboard graphics for a few days which meant I couldn't use GPU performance support so, fortunately having received my GPU I can now use Illustrator but that's not fair on anyone using in-built or onboard graphics!

Needs fixing immediately.