diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/setup_tools.py b/pytorch_lightning/setup_tools.py
index 95ca568bf87b6..2df3c7946b4d9 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/setup_tools.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/setup_tools.py
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ def _load_requirements(
     reqs = []
     for ln in lines:
         # filer all comments
+        comment = ""
         if comment_char in ln:
+            comment = ln[ln.index(comment_char) :]
             ln = ln[: ln.index(comment_char)]
-        comment = ln[ln.index(comment_char) :] if comment_char in ln else ""
         req = ln.strip()
         # skip directly installed dependencies
         if not req or req.startswith("http") or "@http" in req:
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index c26c199115dbc..555997c6576e6 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ torchmetrics>=0.4.1, <=0.7.2
 pyDeprecate>=0.3.1, <=0.3.2
 packaging>=17.0, <=21.3
 typing-extensions>=4.0.0, <4.2.1
+protobuf<=3.20.1  # strict. TODO: Remove after tensorboard gets compatible https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorboard/issues/5708
diff --git a/requirements/strategies.txt b/requirements/strategies.txt
index 3b1a3a1e645e3..78268a9fbb6f1 100644
--- a/requirements/strategies.txt
+++ b/requirements/strategies.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 fairscale>=0.4.5, <=0.4.6
-deepspeed<0.7.0
+deepspeed<0.6.0
 # no need to install with [pytorch] as pytorch is already installed
 horovod>=0.21.2,!=0.24.0, <=0.24.3
 hivemind>=1.0.1, <=1.0.1; sys_platform == 'linux'
diff --git a/tests/callbacks/test_quantization.py b/tests/callbacks/test_quantization.py
index dd39ddb35d200..efd1b6d2f4dcf 100644
--- a/tests/callbacks/test_quantization.py
+++ b/tests/callbacks/test_quantization.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 from torchmetrics.functional import mean_absolute_percentage_error as mape
 
 from pytorch_lightning import seed_everything, Trainer
+from pytorch_lightning.accelerators import GPUAccelerator
 from pytorch_lightning.callbacks import QuantizationAwareTraining
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.exceptions import MisconfigurationException
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.memory import get_model_size_mb
@@ -35,9 +36,14 @@
 @RunIf(quantization=True)
 def test_quantization(tmpdir, observe: str, fuse: bool, convert: bool):
     """Parity test for quant model."""
+    cuda_available = GPUAccelerator.is_available()
+
+    if observe == "average" and not fuse and GPUAccelerator.is_available():
+        pytest.xfail("TODO: flakiness in GPU CI")
+
     seed_everything(42)
     dm = RegressDataModule()
-    accelerator = "gpu" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
+    accelerator = "gpu" if cuda_available else "cpu"
     trainer_args = dict(default_root_dir=tmpdir, max_epochs=7, accelerator=accelerator, devices=1)
     model = RegressionModel()
     qmodel = copy.deepcopy(model)
diff --git a/tests/standalone_tests.sh b/tests/standalone_tests.sh
index 7b7dd361ab0b1..10892e4ab40a5 100755
--- a/tests/standalone_tests.sh
+++ b/tests/standalone_tests.sh
@@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ files=$(echo "$grep_output" | cut -f1 -d: | sort | uniq)
 # get the list of parametrizations. we need to call them separately. the last two lines are removed.
 # note: if there's a syntax error, this will fail with some garbled output
 if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
-  parametrizations=$(pytest $files --collect-only --quiet "$@" | tail -r | sed -e '1,3d' | tail -r)
+  parametrizations=$(python -m pytest $files --collect-only --quiet "$@" | tail -r | sed -e '1,3d' | tail -r)
 else
-  parametrizations=$(pytest $files --collect-only --quiet "$@" | head -n -2)
+  parametrizations=$(python -m pytest $files --collect-only --quiet "$@" | head -n -2)
 fi
 parametrizations_arr=($parametrizations)
 
 # tests to skip - space separated
-blocklist='tests/profiler/test_profiler.py::test_pytorch_profiler_nested_emit_nvtx'
+blocklist='tests/profiler/test_profiler.py::test_pytorch_profiler_nested_emit_nvtx tests/utilities/test_warnings.py'
 report=''
 
 for i in "${!parametrizations_arr[@]}"; do
diff --git a/tests/utilities/test_warnings.py b/tests/utilities/test_warnings.py
index 45a0d5f8bbac6..3f770ffe2d86f 100644
--- a/tests/utilities/test_warnings.py
+++ b/tests/utilities/test_warnings.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.warnings import WarningCache
 
 standalone = os.getenv("PL_RUN_STANDALONE_TESTS", "0") == "1"
-if standalone:
+if standalone and __name__ == "__main__":
 
     stderr = StringIO()
     # recording