diff --git a/.github/workflows/stdarch.yml b/.github/workflows/stdarch.yml
index 3d2ffa57dff..17d6449c85e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/stdarch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/stdarch.yml
@@ -42,8 +42,14 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install more recent binutils
       run: |
         echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky main universe" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plucky-copies.list
-        sudo apt-get update
+        sudo apt-get update -o Acquire::Retries=3
         sudo apt-get install binutils
+        installed="$(dpkg-query --showformat='${Version}' --show binutils)"
+        echo "Installed binutils: $installed"
+        if dpkg --compare-versions "$installed" lt "2.44"; then
+            echo "::error::binutils upgrade failed (got $installed, need >= 2.44); the apt fetch probably failed"
+            exit 1
+        fi
 
     - name: Install Intel Software Development Emulator
       if: ${{ matrix.cargo_runner }}
@@ -89,7 +95,8 @@ jobs:
     - name: Run stdarch tests
       if: ${{ !matrix.cargo_runner }}
       run: |
-        ./y.sh test --release --stdarch-tests
+        # FIXME: remove --skip test_tile_ and --skip --skip test__tile when it's implemented.
+        ./y.sh test --release --stdarch-tests -- --skip test_tile_ --skip test__tile
 
     - name: Run stdarch tests
       if: ${{ matrix.cargo_runner }}
diff --git a/build_system/src/test.rs b/build_system/src/test.rs
index cbaf5879698..6cc2282c802 100644
--- a/build_system/src/test.rs
+++ b/build_system/src/test.rs
@@ -788,7 +788,13 @@ fn test_stdarch(env: &Env, args: &TestArg) -> Result<(), String> {
         format!("{rustflags} -Ainternal_features").trim().to_owned(),
     );
     env.insert("TARGET".to_string(), args.config_info.target_triple.clone());
-    run_cargo_command(&[&"test", &"--manifest-path", &manifest_path], None, &env, args)?;
+
+    let mut command: Vec<&dyn AsRef<OsStr>> =
+        vec![&"test", &"--manifest-path", &manifest_path, &"--"];
+    for test_name in &args.test_args {
+        command.push(test_name);
+    }
+    run_cargo_command(&command, None, &env, args)?;
     Ok(())
 }