Sonoma: Macbook Pro (M1 2020) Touch Bar is not working after update (Flickers during restart then once logged in, it disappears)

I upgraded to Sonoma yesterday on my Macbook Pro (M1 2020). Touch Bar keeps flickering during startup (looks like it is glitching) then once logged in, it disappears. What could be a issue?

Tried safe mode, tried sudo pkill from terminal, and everything else online.


Could this be a hardware failure because of Sonoma?




MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Sep 30, 2023 11:33 PM

Reply
29 replies

Oct 1, 2023 2:35 AM in response to MoTahboub

Try this to reset the SMC of your Mac

Make sure that your Mac is plugged into power, then take one of these actions. 

  • Restart: Choose Apple menu  > Restart.
  • Or shut down: Choose Apple menu  > Shut Down. Then press the power button on your Mac to turn it on again.



If this is not working, please boot your Mac in the safe mode to see if the issue persist


  1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down.
  2. Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar) are off.
  3. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until “Loading startup options” appears.
  4. Select a volume.
  5. Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.
  6. The computer restarts automatically. When the login window appears, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.


If it does not persist in the safe mode, it is caused by an external piece of software, you might want to evaluate the software you've installed on your Mac.


For your question if this is a hardware error caused by Sonoma, I want to stress that correlation is not always causality. What I want to say with that is that the error might have occurred after updating to Sonona, it is not yet proven that it is Caused by the update to Sonoma.

Oct 1, 2023 4:06 AM in response to WheelieNick

I tried everything possible and nothing worked. Here's a video to show you how it flickers.

https://share.zight.com/jku6lOA2


The thing is, once I log in, it disappears, however the touchbar is still functional. When I am logged in, I can still click on things (volume for example, mute...etc) but it is not showing me anything. This has never happened before.

Oct 3, 2023 1:39 PM in response to MoTahboub

i'm experiencing the exact same problem! i've been trying to return my computer back to ventura (or whichever software it was on before sonoma) this is very very very infuriating these devices cost WAY too much money (even more if you have apple care) just for simple functions to not be working properly / as promised when we users update to the newest software

Oct 4, 2023 5:28 AM in response to UdniwEcam

apparently, i have an apple silicon computer w/ an "apple m2"' chip & the only instructions of resetting the smc is to just simply restart the computer ....which doesn’t work & has never worked for the touch bar issue. i've also gone to multiple genius bars at multiple different apple store locations just to be gaslit love that for me

Oct 7, 2023 6:47 AM in response to MoTahboub

Hey,


Did you already find a solution?

So my Touch Bar was full of blue spots a few days ago and now it turned completely black after the update.

It is still functioning when I touch it but just the lightning is not working at all, completely black :(

So annoyed and stressed at the moment haha! Should I go to an Apple Store or something?


Kind regards,

Jhamel

Sonoma: Macbook Pro (M1 2020) Touch Bar is not working after update (Flickers during restart then once logged in, it disappears)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.