I’m on Sonoma 14.1.1 and yesterday I received an update. Today, the touch bar is not working. I’ve restarted it with no luck. I started to do a safe mode start but the computer will not go into safe mode.
what’s next ?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.2
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.
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.
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.
So it sounds like the software that runs it from the System Settings never launched.
https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/how-to-restart-the-touch-bar-on-mac
discusses how to relaunch it.
Do you have this in System settings > Keyboard?
Maybe, you've disabled this by mistake?
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.
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.
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 ?
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?
By safe mode, did you use the built-in shift key of the MacBook and no other keys?
Any spills, drops, or bumps ever happen to the computer?
Anything attached besides power?
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.
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.
This video might help. Or this video.
Thank you for comment. I only held down the shift key. I didn’t drop it or anything else except I did an update yesterday. When I did a search for the Touch Bar in activity monitor I couldn’t find it.
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.
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.
Mac Book Pro Touch Bar Not Working
