You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: w-o-b
w-o-b Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

OS Big Sur Brightness Adjustment Bug - 2018 MacBook Pro freezes for 20-70 seconds after adjusting brightness

I upgraded to OS Big Sur (11.5) a few weeks ago, but have since been continuously hit with an issue I've never had trouble with.


After adjusting my screen brightness via the touch bar - almost always an increase for a brighter screen - my 2018 15" MacBook Pro freezes heavily for around 20 to 70 seconds, usually around one minute. All running apps are freeze from Chrome to Activity Monitor and the fans begin to speed up heavily. If I try to click on Chrome to get it to respond, I get a spinning wheel for my cursor.


I can easily repeat the bug consistently by setting the brightness low and then raising it back up.


This had never been an issue prior to OS Big Sur, so I'm wondering whether this had to do with the newly installed OS software. Has anybody else had experience with this?


Posted on Aug 3, 2021 7:08 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Nicholas_B2
Nicholas_B2
User level: Community Specialist

Posted on Aug 4, 2021 1:18 PM

Greetings abnckwehabcekibeuwaf,


We understand that you are having some performance issues with your Mac while using Google Chrome, and we'd like to help. Begin by following the guidance found here:


If your Mac runs slowly


Take care.

View in context

Similar questions

11 replies
User profile for user: w-o-b
w-o-b Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

Aug 4, 2021 1:50 PM in response to w-o-b

I've solved my own issue, and my intuition was correct - there was some bug in Big Sur 11.5. It had nothing to do with general slowness or performance.


Since upgrading to Big Sur 11.5.1 the bug no longer occurs. It appears Apple was aware of it and, luckily, quickly fixed it with this patch.

Reply
User profile for user: w-o-b
w-o-b Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

Aug 4, 2021 1:55 PM in response to Nicholas_B2

Well for some reason, I can't uncheck this as "Solved" because this did not solve my problem. I meant to click "This solved my problem" for my own answer but, apparently, you can't undo this action? Which is ridiculously stupid and a bug in and of itself.


For anybody dealing with this same issue:

The issue was with Big Sur 11.5. The bug no longer occurs in 11.5.1.

Reply
User profile for user: martijnvdz
martijnvdz
User level: Level 1
4 points

Aug 6, 2021 2:16 PM in response to w-o-b

I have Big Sur 11.15.1 installed. Didn't have problems with lag in changing the brightness, but since this update I do. I don't have Chrome on this MacBook Pro. I also noticed some visual glitches during video watching. This also goes for the volume. It seems to be a problem of the interface that pops up and shows the level of the brightness/volume. It lags my video or current thing I'm working on and it's pretty frustrating.

Reply
User profile for user: w-o-b
w-o-b Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

Aug 6, 2021 2:25 PM in response to martijnvdz

Interesting - you're basically describing the issue I was having - although my issue was resolved after updating to 11.15.1.


Do you also have a mid-2018 15-inch?


I figured it was something to do with the OS not using the hardware correctly somehow considering before (and for me, after 11.15.1) the hardware worked (works) just as speedily as ever. It affects different MacBook versions differently, perhaps? I'm not sure.


When you adjust the brightness, does the audio of the video you're watching glitch/lag too? My YouTube video's audio continued to play even as the screen/window to Chrome was frozen.

Reply
User profile for user: w-o-b
w-o-b Author
User level: Level 1
19 points

Aug 6, 2021 2:37 PM in response to martijnvdz

I feel like it might, yeah - unfortunately, I am personally just a random Apple product user like yourself and not really sure I can recommend anything.


I'm lucky that my issue was resolved in the recent patch - hopefully they can catch the same issue for your hardware soon and put out a patch, but I'm not sure if much can be done to fix it if it's a problem with the OS. I don't suppose you'd want to try to reset to Catalina lol...

Reply
User profile for user: glomotion
glomotion
User level: Level 1
4 points

Aug 10, 2021 5:08 PM in response to w-o-b

Hey there!

I have BigSur 11.5.1 (20G80) and a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019) and this issue is most definitely still happening.

I don't have chrome installed. This is a fresh Big Sur install (completed 3 days ago).

The computer completely beachballs for up to 1 minute, each time I press the brightness or volume buttons on my (bluetooth) keyboard.

Reply

OS Big Sur Brightness Adjustment Bug - 2018 MacBook Pro freezes for 20-70 seconds after adjusting brightness

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up