macOS Big Sur (11.0) - Bugs and bug fixes

[Sill]

Some really worrying stuff happened yesterday.

- My Airplay setup (Airport Express to my stereo) kept dropping connections.
- Looking through my Messages for some pics a friend had sent, and Messages kept freezing up, requiring a force-quit (like a regular quit, but using a lightsaber)
- My internet connection was up, so was my WiFi, but the connection to the computer went into a black hole. Even though Airport Diagnostics showed I had a connection, every link I clicked on did nothing. Safari would just sit there, not even show the 'X' in the URL bar.

I had to reset my cable modem and Airport Extreme to get communications back to normal. I have no idea if the net problem was related to MacOS Big Slow, but since the latest version of Safari included with Big Slow has gone to this new page-loading method I can't be sure. Previous versions of Safari would, upon clicking a link, put the link in the URL bar, and then show progress in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Now the sending page stays in the URL bar, it doesn't change until the new page loads, and I rarely see anything in Status at the bottom of the screen.

Apple has been making incremental changes to Safari over the past few years that have really affected the interface and the operation. I'd really like to go back to the very old days when there was a color progress bar in the URL box.

In other news, my AppleTV 4K started skipping like it had a bad HDMI port. Static to black screen to image, repeat. I finally pulled the plug on it and let it sit for a couple of hours. When I plugged it back in the thing was working fine.

 

[gank41]

Looks like unlock with Apple Watch isn't working again for me.

 

[gank41]

Screen Saver is not coming on after 10 minutes of inactivity, like my settings are set for. Even after a reboot.

 

[AxelFoley]

Looks like unlock with Apple Watch isn't working again for me.


View attachment 1770619

Go into Settings, uncheck the feature and then check it back again. That solved the issue for me.

Axel F.

 

[gank41]

Go into Settings, uncheck the feature and then check it back again. That solved the issue for me.

Axel F.

Well, it was unchecked and giving me the error in the screenshot when I'd check it. BUT, I just looked now and it IS checked. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[buckrock]

Looks like unlock with Apple Watch isn't working again for me.


View attachment 1770619

I just saw someone solved this problem by rebooting Apple Watch.

 

[gank41]

I just saw someone solved this problem by rebooting Apple Watch.

Yeah, it’s just not consistent. Rebooting my Watch/iPhone/MBP seem to not help initially. Then after maybe 10-15+ minutes the option to unlock with my Watch IS checked again, without any interaction from me.

This was a back & forth issue on 10.15 for a while, too.

I’m also still having issues with my Screen Saver not coming on after the set time. I’ve had to set a Hot Corner to start the Screen Saver instead. 11.3.1 has been bad for me like how 11 initially was.

 

[buckrock]

Yeah, it’s just not consistent. Rebooting my Watch/iPhone/MBP seem to not help initially. Then after maybe 10-15+ minutes the option to unlock with my Watch IS checked again, without any interaction from me.

This was a back & forth issue on 10.15 for a while, too.

I’m also still having issues with my Screen Saver not coming on after the set time. I’ve had to set a Hot Corner to start the Screen Saver instead. 11.3.1 has been bad for me like how 11 initially was.

You might want to make a bootable USB installer for your particular MacOS and do an install right on top of your current system. This sometimes does wonders to repair a glitchy system. It is safe and won’t effect you data, settings, or apps.

 

[gank41]

You might want to make a bootable USB installer for your particular MacOS and do an install right on top of your current system. This sometimes does wonders to repair a glitchy system. It is safe and won’t effect you data, settings, or apps.

Yeah, I’ve done that in the past. I just did a complete erase & restore from Time Machine when 11.3 officially came out, though. Kinda sucks that I’d need to reinstall over itself again after a point release like this.

 

[Solomani]

Noticed a minor glitch in Big Sur 11.3.1

In the Docks, the Apple Mail dock icon does NOT show the number of unread emails (which is normally shown as a red number). However, once you open the Mail application, the red number does show up on the upper-right corner of the Apple Mail dock icon.

This is a glitch. It's a glitch because it worked properly (and intuitively) in previous versions prior to Big Sur. Using on Big Sur 11.3.1 installed on iMac 2018

 

[mashinhead]

Anyone else have a double enter glitch with 11.3? When I ty tpe (this is an example) it basically glitches and enters what I type typed (and another) twice. It even happened when opening an email in mail. At first I thought I was accidentally tapping the trackpad and that was causing it. It opened two instances of it. is this happening to anyone else.

 

[gank41]

You might want to make a bootable USB installer for your particular MacOS and do an install right on top of your current system. This sometimes does wonders to repair a glitchy system. It is safe and won’t effect you data, settings, or apps.

I installed macOS 11.3.1 over itself from a USB installer, and that seems to have resolved my "screensaver not coming on after 10 minutes" issue. Finder is super slow right now copying files to an external drive, but I'm sure there's indexing or something happening in the background at the moment.

 

[gank41]

I installed macOS 11.3.1 over itself from a USB installer, and that seems to have resolved my "screensaver not coming on after 10 minutes" issue. Finder is super slow right now copying files to an external drive, but I'm sure there's indexing or something happening in the background at the moment.

Looks like I spoke too soon. When I'm not docked, my screensaver comes on at the normal set time after inactivity. Everything's fine. When I AM docked, the screensaver doesn't come on at all. I've eliminated apps like Caffeine and Amphetamine as possible culprits, and I've confirmed in System Preferences that everything is set accurately for both Battery and Plugged In behaviors. I'm at a loss other than to use a Hot Corner to activate my Screensaver (Mac never goes to sleep, though) and to wait for Apple at this point.

 

[Sill]

About 30 minutes ago I was dragging a pic from a site to a text window, and the rainbow pinwheel came up. The mouse and keyboard didn't response. After 5 minutes of this the screen went black and a text window popped up telling me that there had been a serious error and the computer would now reboot.

It came back up as it normally does, with the microphone turning itself on, and plenty of stalls while web pages reloaded and Mail and Messages launched. Two new things came up : the Error log reporter window, and a MacOS update alert telling that Big Slow 11.3.1 was ready to go.

This brings to mind something I should have mentioned a while ago: Every time a new MacOS or iOS update becomes available, the device the update is designated for starts to behave oddly. Hangs, crashes, or just simple changes in settings or app behavior. Install the update, the behavior goes to normal. If I didn't know Apple was a benevolent company that would never do anything to harm us, I'd almost bet this was a little trick to get people to want to upgrade.

 

[vett93]

My Mac Pro 6,1 used to have USB random disconnect problems with Catalina. When Big Sur first came out, it addressed the issue. However, Big Sur 11.3.1 has brought back the bugs. The USB random disconnect problem has returned. Apple?

 

[Sill]

I haven't had USB issues of any sort for the past 15 years or so, regardless of the OS version. The issue I do see, and pretty regularly, is Bluetooth disconnects. My computer drops the trackpad connection quite a bit, and the only thing that will stabilize it is plugging a Lightning cable into the trackpad. The computer will also drop my AirPods repeatedly.

 

[vett93]

I haven't had USB issues of any sort for the past 15 years or so, regardless of the OS version. ....

How long do you keep your computer on and not in sleep mode?

 

[Sill]

How long do you keep your computer on and not in sleep mode?

The computer never gets turned off, but I think it gets at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

When I first installed OS X with the public beta all those years ago, I found out about the daily/weekly/monthly cleanups that were built in to the OS, and that sleep time was when that happened, so I quit turning it off at that point.

 

[vett93]

I use AWS Cloud servers for software development. So my MP does not sleep at night for days. Maybe that is the reason?

I read that Mac OS does regular cleanups. But I don't find my MP does that. On the Energy Saver setup, do you have to turn on Enable Power Nap for the Mac to perform cleanups in the sleep mode?

 

[Sill]

I've never heard of that being necessary. I know there is a way to schedule the cleaning processes, but they generally happen when the machine is running but not having any user interaction. I used to run cleaning programs years ago, because coming from Windows I was always looking for the last bit of speed I could eke out of any system. I think I used Onyx and Cocktail, but I can't be sure.

Check out this article for more info:

Running Mac OS X Maintenance Scripts

thexlab.com

 

[gank41]

Looks like I spoke too soon. When I'm not docked, my screensaver comes on at the normal set time after inactivity. Everything's fine. When I AM docked, the screensaver doesn't come on at all. I've eliminated apps like Caffeine and Amphetamine as possible culprits, and I've confirmed in System Preferences that everything is set accurately for both Battery and Plugged In behaviors. I'm at a loss other than to use a Hot Corner to activate my Screensaver (Mac never goes to sleep, though) and to wait for Apple at this point.

Whelp. I have done nothing or changed anything for this to happen, but I woke up this morning to my M1 MBP that I keep docked, to appear to have gone to sleep with the monitor off. I was able to wake it from sleep and then tested it and my Screensaver is now coming on after the set 10 minutes. NO idea what would have “fixed” this for me. I’ve even restarted twice this morning and am still seeing the screensaver come on like normal now. This alleviates a lot of stress for me, knowing my Mac is locking now when the screensaver comes on instead of having to manually set it to come on when I walk away.

 

[ascender]

Airplay from Music to my HomePods seems to have become broken over the last few weeks. I've tried it on two machines (both M1s) running the latest OS as well as some different HomePods. I can select them OK, I press play and the music will play for 10-20 seconds before all sound cuts out. Although the track keeps "playing" on the Mac.

 

[blueflower]

Hey everyone, I don't like the startup chime, unchecked the box but as soon as I exit sounds and open it again it has somehow checked itself. Is this a bug, how can I ensure that when I uncheck the box it remains checked? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[gusping]

Is anyone else having audio popping/crackling issues? I just upgraded from Catalina to Big Sur 11.3.1 on my 2018 Mac mini and my speakers constantly crackle when nothing is playing. But as soon as i play a video or music it stops completely. This is incredibly frustrating.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

FYI, Big Sur 11.4 RC Build 20F71 is currently available as an update in the Developer (and perhaps Public) Seed Program.