Unable to play any audio/video when an external display is plugged in (and external drives keep being force-ejected)

I just updated to the new release of macOS Catalina (19A512f), but I'm having nothing but problems. I noticed I couldn't play any music (it would play a second and then beachball for 5 seconds), then realised that any videos in a browser would beachball the browser, then I tried to QuickLook a video in Finder and it beachballed Finder.


Also, my external drives keep being ejected every 5 minutes, and I get the "You shouldn't force-eject drives!" notification. I'm leaving them unplugged for now as I don't want to damage them. (They were plugged in via my LG UltraFine display, so I'm now trying a drive plugged directly into my Mac, and it hasn't ejected so far.)


As it is, my Mac is pretty unusable, and I'm considering downgrading. But I wondered if anyone else is having these issues too? Thanks!

Replies

OK, so... I just unplugged my LG UltraFine 4K display, and suddenly I can play audio and video with no problems. And the external drive that's plugged directly into my Mac is still connected. So it sounds like it's some big issue with the display.