Mac Book Pro Touch Bar Not Working

Same issue here. Device is MacBook Pro 2018 15-inch with TouchBar, with latest Sonoma version 14.3.1.

TouchBar is all black and not responsive, as if it wasn't there.

Of course tried restarting the device, multiple times.

Of course I googled same issues and tried solutions.

For example, the services, in Activity Monitor, 'TouchBarServer' and 'Control Strip' are not even listed.

My next step is to create a Ventura Bootable Disk and go back to Ventura, to validate if Sonoma is causing this issue via software.

Thanks for replying and asking back so quickly. The "Touchbar Settings" on the "Keyboard Settings" section is not there anyomore, no button there.

By the way, I was about to install Ventura, though it gave me the option to reinstall Sonoma so I went for this option. Consider that I had already performed a "Erase all Content and Settings" earlier. So, Sonoma resinstall did not work to recover Touchbar.

I have Sonoma 14.3.1

Given that it is stopping a normal startup background app from running, I suggest each person having the problem starting their own thread. This will help Apple see how widespread the issue is. And each person sharing their Etrecheck results, as we might be able to help you find out why your application is not launching.

Etrecheck - the handy reporting tool for … - Apple Community

To start your own thread, click on this link. You can use the link on the addressbar for this thread when refering back to your problem to explain you have tried what's suggested here. GHAR, if you are still having trouble, please reply with your Etrecheck results on this thread.

Just now I installed the newest update of Sonoma and my Touch Bar is back, magically!! I have no explanation as I had done a Factory Reset, went back to install Ventura, checked that the issue continued even with Ventura, therefore decided to install Sonoma back, and still not working.

After a month+ of not using my MacBook Pro 15' out of frustration, today, when logged in still touch bar was not working, BUT, a new update of Sonoma was available, installed it and magically the Touch Bar is back. Happy and not happy at the same time. What is happening?

It could be that there's a process(s) hogging system resources, so maybe first go to System Settings > Login Items > disable and delete all that's there, so no 3rd party apps would start when you start the MacBook and run in the background. Then restart it and see whether the Touch Bar would work.

You can also try in Terminal,

sudo pkill touchbarserver 

You have to give your password. The Touch Bar should restart by itself.

The only way to do as you propose is to recover the clone you made prior to upgrading. If you didn't clone, you didn't do as advised by most professionals. You might be able to download the update prior to last using the terminal.

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 14.1.0

might work. The file that downloads in the Applications folder may labeled Install Mac OS. You'll want to rename that Install Mac OS 14.1.0. Copy that file onto a external Mac formatted hard drive.

Then comes the hard part.

1. Clone system.
2. Run internet recovery to load the original OS
3. Run the installer you downloaded from the terminal
4. Recover the information you made from the clone. Note some software may not work until you upgrade to the latest Mac OS version regardless, because it has already been updated for it on your system.

This process is described in full on How do I downgrade my Mac OS X operating … - Apple Community

GHAR wrote:

How do revert back to the update prior to the last ?

Hi Chdsl, thanks for taking time to reply. I had already tried killing touchbarserver, both in Terminal and Activity Monitor. I believe tochbarsever service is not even there to kill.

My Login Items is clear as I already did a reset of the device, and, also reinstalled Sonoma with no installation of any other 3rd Party apps (not even recovering a backup). What is on my MBP is plain macOS Sonoma standard applications. I am keeping it as pure as it comes to continue trying out options with no excuses of other software that I could have installed.

I am still tempted to clean HDD and install Ventura, to prove if it is Sonoma that is killing the TouchBar.

Not one person here loaded Etrecheck.

Etrecheck - the handy reporting tool for … - Apple Community

It will help telling us what background applications are running.

Please, if you aren't GHAR, and don't have a solution, start a new topic thread. All advice on this thread is directed towards GHAR otherwise. Etrecheck, will help us see all your background utilities that may be running. If you are running any optimization tools, remove them as they may be preventing your touch bar from loading, and are unnecessary.

The same thing happened to me, so I'm sure we're not the only ones. I've tried every piece of advice I can find. I could do a factory restart but that's annoying. I think I'll just wait until the next update to see if it fixes itself.

I've been having other issues ever since I updated to 14. Kind of annoying.

I had the same issue. No working touch bar since updating to 14.1.1. I also tried the suggested steps to restart the touch bar. It kind of comes alive (albeit dull) and is unresponsive... so although something appears as normal, it's still not working.

Then a restart and the touch bar has sprung into life. Working now.

If you think the update had messed up your TouchBar, it might be that the update didn't go well. Maybe, you'd try revert back to the earlier OS, and then check if the Touch Bar would work. Then, maybe try again to update. Sometimes a download might not be complete, after all we do that online.

GHAR wrote:

How do revert back to the update prior to the last ?

I suppose, to the macOS with what the Touch Bar worked well. That's what you wrote, it worked better in the earlier macOS, right? That is, if this is not a hardware problem.