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(14.0+) Auto brightness causing micro freezes with Studio Display

B

broadlore

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2023
6
2
Hi all,

I did some researching and wasn't able to find anyone else with this rather unique problem, so I thought I'd write a post to reassure others with the same issue know they're not alone.

Since Sonoma, there is a fairly significant bug with the auto brightness feature on the Studio Display. If the display tries to change the brightness of the panel, the entire display freezes for anything from 1-10 seconds. The bigger the brightness jump, the longer the freeze. While this happens, my 2nd display (an iPad air with sidecar) continues to work without any issue.

This issue can be replicated by covering the ambient light sensor with your hand, or turning on your phone's flashlight and shining it close by.

The "workaround" is to disable auto brightness, but why pay £1500 for a nice display if I have to turn off some of the features? It even micro stutters if you open control center and adjust the brightness this way.

I have reinstalled Sonoma 14.0 (release), even upgraded to 14.1 and it still happens. I am currently on the 14.2 beta 2, and the problem persists. I have sent a bug report to Apple, too.

HW: M2 Pro Mac Mini
 
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I'm experiencing the exact same issue with a Mac Studio on 14.1.1. Have you tried a fresh macOS install? I'll give that a go since 14.2 hasn't fixed the issue for you.
 
I managed to stop the issue temporarily by power cycling the ASD (unplugging it from the wall), but I imagine it'll come back in a few days.

I spoke to AppleCare, and they had me do a reinstall of Sonoma. They said to call back if the issue comes up again and they'll escalate to an advisor and grab logs off me.
 
Small update on this - I did a full DFU reinstall of macOS and the issue was still present. However, I swapped my secondary Dell monitor to use a USB-C to HDMI adapter instead of the built in HDMI port and the freezing hasn't reoccured in the last few days.
 
FleetAdmiralButter said:
I spoke to AppleCare, and they had me do a reinstall of Sonoma.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: Support by the numbers. The OS is on a secure, read-only, cryptographically signed volume, and will not boot if it is modified. It's the only part of your installation that you can be sure doesn't need re-installing.

At best, re-installing the OS will empty cache and temp files.

There may well be a bug in the OS, but re-installing isn't going to change that.

I have a Studio Display, but haven't observed this. I would have thought that the Studio's own "firmware" copy of iOS would be responsible, rather than the Mac's OS.
 
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Yeah, I know the OS is on the SSV but I'm not one to argue with support reps :)

Do you have a second display @benwiggy? The common thread here seems to be multi monitor setups.
 
Same issue here with a LG Ultrafine 4K. Noticed this behaviour in MacOS 13 also. Yesterday I updated to 14, issue remains. Very noticeable when watching video, microstutters and big brightness changes. Very annoying. For now I also disabled auto brightness.

the struggle is real
 
Thank you! I have the same problem and thought I was going crazy. For me it seems related to having a secondary display (Dell U2723QE) attached to HDMI. I have a Mac Mini so that's the only option available.

I tried unplugging the HDMI display and that solved it. Interestingly, when I plugged it in again, the problem still seems to be solved. Though, I have a feeling it may only be temporarily solved. I wonder if the graphics driver somehow resets when unplugging a display and that's what solves the problem (temporarily).

I will post if the problem happens again.

Edit: As I feared, the problem returned after a couple of days. This time I solved it by turning off the secondary display (easier than unplugging the HDMI). But this is obviously not a viable solution in the long term. I may have to turn off auto-brightness completely. Really not happy about this since auto-brightness was one of the main reasons for buying this hugely overpriced Studio Display.

Edit 2: And the problem returned again after a couple of days. Turning the secondary display off and on did help again. :(

Edit 3: Problem returned faster than than before. I have no other reasonable option than to turn off auto-brightness. The display will still freeze when adjusting the brightness but at least I control when it happens now. I'm surprised there aren't more people experiencing this problem. It's not a subtle issue. It seems to require the combination of a Studio Display and an other display connected via HDMI.
 
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I wonder: do you guys with this issue have Night Shift on? I have it off, and that's about the only distinction I can think of.
 
benwiggy said:
I wonder: do you guys with this issue have Night Shift on? I have it off, and that's about the only distinction I can think of.
Click to expand...

I do have Night Shift on. But I just tried turning it off and it made no difference.

The determining factor appears to be having a secondary display on the HDMI-port. Also, at least for me it is not actually an auto-brightness issue. The display freezes when brightness is adjusted regardless of whether this is done manually or automatically.
 
SmallDane said:
The determining factor appears to be having a secondary display on the HDMI-port.
Click to expand...
There must be some other factor, because I have a second display on my Mini's HDMI port.

I have the M2 Pro CPU, which supports HDMI 2.1, whereas the base Mini is only HDMI 2.0. Perhaps also a 4K display causes the problem, but a smaller one doesn't. Or could be a cable -- HDMI cables are notoriously variable.
 
benwiggy said:
There must be some other factor, because I have a second display on my Mini's HDMI port.

I have the M2 Pro CPU, which supports HDMI 2.1, whereas the base Mini is only HDMI 2.0. Perhaps also a 4K display causes the problem, but a smaller one doesn't. Or could be a cable -- HDMI cables are notoriously variable.
Click to expand...

I have the M1 Mac Mini and a 4K display (Dell U2723QE). I don't remember the brand of the HDMI cable. But I usually don't skimp on the quality of cables. Also, I've had the same setup for about a year now and the problem only started occurring within the last month or so.

The OP also has the M2 Pro Mac and it was apparently solved by using USB-C instead of HDMI. It's a very strange issue indeed.
 
Automatically adjust brightness is completely missing in my MacOS Sonoma settings 14.3 (4.3 Beta (23D5043d)
How do you disable it ?
I'm having the same issue, and if I shine a light at the ambient sensor, it does in fact change brightnes .. so I know it is working.
Screenshot 2024-01-10 at 8.16.00 PM.png
 
Potential good news! Sonoma 14.3 may have fixed the issue. I turned auto-brightness back on after upgrading to 14.3 and it has been running for a week now without the freeze problem. I will report back if that changes. Fingers crossed. 🤞
 
Still happening for me.

It only happens when my iPad is connected via sidecar. The auto brightness works fine when the studio display is on its own.

I’ve reported this bug time after time and it still hasn’t been fixed.
 
I can confirm that the problem still exists in MacOS 15 on my M1 Mac Mini when using a secondary display connected to HDMI.

Turning off auto-brightness again on this massively overpriced Studio display! ☹️
 
SmallDane said:
I can confirm that the problem still exists in MacOS 15 on my M1 Mac Mini when using a secondary display connected to HDMI.

Turning off auto-brightness again on this massively overpriced Studio display! ☹️
Click to expand...
I'm glad it's not just me! £1400 monitor and you can't even use one of the main features :D :D
 
I don't want to jinx it, but since updating to 15.1, I haven't had any issues at all. To anyone else who had the same problem and also upgraded, what are your experiences?

Will report back in a month or so to confirm!
 
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