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

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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

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Answer 1

Best reply

Nicholas_B2

Community Specialist

Aug 4, 2021 1:18 PM in response to w-o-b

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.

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2021 2:30 PM in response to w-o-b

I have a 2016 MacBook 15-inch. It might, yes.

If I adjust brightness, it doesn't affect the audio or video that's playing no. It's the interface that momentarily displays the level of the brightness or volume that's glitching.

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Answer 3

w-o-b Author

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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.

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Answer 4

w-o-b Author

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.

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Answer 5

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.

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Answer 6

w-o-b Author

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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.

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Answer 7

w-o-b Author

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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...

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Answer 8

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.

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Answer 9

w-o-b Author

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19 points

Aug 11, 2021 12:41 AM in response to glomotion

Yup, you are correct.

I thought the bug had vanished after updating to 11.5.1, but it seems to have returned after a day or so, unfortunately. It is also both adjusting brightness as well as volume, you describe.

It sounds like all the same issue. Hopefully, the devs are aware of it.

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Answer 10

Aug 6, 2021 3:05 PM in response to w-o-b

Thanks for thinking along. I'll just wait till September. I hope that'll fix things. Fingers crossed. :/

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Answer 11

Aug 30, 2021 11:51 AM in response to w-o-b

I have the exact same issue after upgrading to Big Sur. Also happens when I adjust the volume on the touch bar.

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

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