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jaceapoc

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2021
41
71
Specs: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) – 2,2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 – 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 – Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

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Latest occurrence of the issue: While watching content on YouTube this morning, when I went to change the volume by pressing/touching on the volume icons on the TouchBar, the video froze for 1 second and the volume didn't change. Though the audio kept going, the video did not. After that 1 second, the volume icon and its animations finally appeared on the screen and the volume changed up/down but very slowly, then the video sped up to catch up with the audio that was 1s further.

Never experienced this issue before. This has been happening since last week, after I updated macOS to 11.5. I've mostly noticed this issue while I'm watching YouTube videos using Firefox v91.0. Although, I've noticed it too while using other applications (Chrome, Safari, Netflix, Spotify, Podcasts, etc.).

Using Activity Monitor, I've noticed a few processes hit CPU usage of more than 100% whenever this lag occurs, followed by the fans' RPM shooting up. The processes are "TouchBarServer" and/or "kerneltask" and/or "WindowServer".

Restarting the computer usually fixes the issue, but it always comes back after a few hours.

Several Google searches on this issue have lead me to threads where people have been experiencing this issue since 2019. Following the advice from this search result, I've tried resetting the NVRAM and I've tried resetting the SMC. The issue still occurs.

Any idea? Help?

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Other lags experienced since the macOS 11.5 update:
  • Same issue with the brightness buttons on TouchBar
  • Same issue with the media buttons (play/pause/next/previous) on TouchBar
  • Lock button on TouchBar does not work immediately, have to press it 2 times to work
  • TrackPad responsiveness: some TrackPad movements are not registered the first time
  • Scrolling is laggy on certain webpages or in large text files
  • Scrolling through my watchlist in the Stocks app is incredibly slow and laggy
 
Last edited:

twanj

macrumors 65816
Sep 10, 2015
1,226
1,693
Pompano Beach, FL
Great post summing up the issue!

Let's hope today's 11.5.2 update fixes this! I wonder how many people were experiencing it?!?

We've been discussing it here too, where CapsLock also seems to trigger it:


Logging out resets WindowServer, so if that's faster for you than rebooting it might help.

I also noticed it when viewing video, but it happens when no other apps are running too. pretty bad!
 

jaceapoc

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2021
41
71
Great post summing up the issue!

Let's hope today's 11.5.2 update fixes this! I wonder how many people were experiencing it?!?

We've been discussing it here too, where CapsLock also seems to trigger it:


Logging out resets WindowServer, so if that's faster for you than rebooting it might help.

I also noticed it when viewing video, but it happens when no other apps are running too. pretty bad!

So far so good for me too! Updated to macOS 11.5.2 about 9 hours ago and no issue for now.

+ @motarski
 
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