Touchbar on Macbook Pro not working at all

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Level 1

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Touchbar on Macbook Pro not working at all

Hi, I was using my Macbook Pro 13" (2019) on Catalina and decided to take an hour-long nap or so, so I left the Macbook on a table. After my nap, I come back to my computer with the touchbar completely off and unresponsive. I tried restarting the mac but the touchbar still wouldn't turn on.

I looked up solutions online including:

Restarting the SMC, which didn't work
Going on Terminal and entering commands such as "sudo pkill TouchBarServer;" and "sudo killall “ControlStrip”;", the latter of which responded with "No matching processes belonging to you were found". (neither seemed to change anything)
"TouchBarServer" is also completely missing from Activity Monitor.
I ran Apple Diagnostics and it concluded with "No issues were found".
All the Touchbar-related settings in the "Keyboard" page of System Preferences are completely gone too, acting as if the touchbar never existed on this computer
Going on "Safe Boot" / "Safe Mode" didn't help or change anything either.

It seems that I've tried everything, yet nothing is working. Hardware-wise, I have not experienced any issues and it has not suffered any damage of any kind as of yet. This machine is less than a year old, so I wouldn't expect it to have any problems. Seems like newer technology such as the touchbar comes with its downfalls when it comes to reliability compared to good old physical keys.

Please help! Thank you!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jun 20, 2020 3:27 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2025

Level 10

199,020 points

Jun 24, 2020 7:50 AM in response to zafranrarang

If resetting the SMC and NVRAM did not resolve your issue— then you have a hardware issue:

Get your Mac ready for service - Apple Support

Mac notebook, contact us and we'll send you a box you can use to ship it to an Apple Repair Center. We'll return your repaired product to you as quickly as possible. Depending on where you get service, you might be able to check the status of your repair online. Start a service request https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"—

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Outside the USA

https://locate.apple.com/country

From iOS device using the app to make a online Genius Bar appointment is easy:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-support/id1130498044?mt=8

(note: due to the temporary closure of Apple Stores and the staggered reopening there may be some delays.

ref: https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/store/temporary_closures )

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/

or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

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Answer 2

dawngreg08

Community Specialist

Jun 24, 2020 7:42 AM in response to zafranrarang

Hello zafranrarang,

I understand that the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro stopped working and there are no settings for the Touch Bar in settings either. I see you've tried a lot of troubleshooting steps this far that didn't help with the Touch Bar. I'd like to help.

Let's try resetting the NVRAM to see if it will correct the Touch Bar issue.

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac

We can also try a test user account and see if this issue still persists there.

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

If the issue remains the same, the next step would be to contact Apple Support directly for further help.

Get Support

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

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Touchbar on Macbook Pro not working at all

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