This has happened around 5 times now since switching to Catalina. The quick fix to get the touch bar working again is to restart the laptop but I don't want to have to keep doing that.
Anyone out there have the same thing? Should I take it to the Apple store? I couldn't find much on Google about touch bar problems.
MacBook Pro 13”, macOS 10.15
Hi connorocampo,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand that you are having an issue with the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro. It is randomly not working. Is your Mac updating to the most recent version of Catalina, 10.15.2? If not, updating would be good place to start. You want to make sure that you have a backup before you update.
If updating doesn’t help, you can try a couple of resets for this issue, neither will affect your data:
You can start by resetting the SMC. Here's how: How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support
Test to see if this resolves the issue. If it does not, then reset the NVRAM. This article gives instructions on how to do that: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
Reach back out to the community to let us know how that goes.
Cheers!
Hi connorocampo,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand that you are having an issue with the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro. It is randomly not working. Is your Mac updating to the most recent version of Catalina, 10.15.2? If not, updating would be good place to start. You want to make sure that you have a backup before you update.
If updating doesn’t help, you can try a couple of resets for this issue, neither will affect your data:
You can start by resetting the SMC. Here's how: How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support
Test to see if this resolves the issue. If it does not, then reset the NVRAM. This article gives instructions on how to do that: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
Reach back out to the community to let us know how that goes.
Cheers!
I bought a new MacBook Pro 2019 16" 3 1/2 weeks ago and have been having the same issue. Several calls with Apple Support to reinstall OS files and do the resets described above did not work. Took to an Apple Store where their diagnostic tools pointed to an issue with the Touch Bar. They sent it off for repair, I received it back with a repair summary stating that a "Top Case with Batter, ANSI, Space Gray" (part # 605-05418) had been replaced. Though it said that it passed all hardware testing, I received the laptop back two days ago and have the same issue. Since I migrated from another MacBook Pro and have no issues with the Touch Bar on that device, I am assuming that it is either hardware (I'm taking it back to the Apple Store tomorrow) or Catalina. If anyone comes up with anything else, that would be great to know.
MacBook Pro's Touch Bar randomly not working. Running Catalina.
