MacBook Pro 2018 15" Touch Bar Flashing and Kernel Panic Crash (Workaround)

dherrington0125 wrote:

I've been experiencing the widely reported Touch Bar flashing problem on my 2018 MacBook Pro.

I attempted every published possible fix, but without any luck.

I finally figured out a workaround that is preventing the flashing and crashing, so I am reporting it here, hoping it will end the massive frustration for others.

I noticed that I could avoid the flashing, if I moved the mouse to keep the Touch Bar from dimming. That gave me the idea.

I bought one of those "USB Mouse Jigglers", which imperceptibly moves the mouse pointer, from Amazon for $6 and plugged it into my MacBook. This keeps the Touch Bar from entering the dimmed state, which eventually leads to the annoying flashing, which inevitably causes the kernel panic crash.

This $6 solution is much cheaper than buying a new MacBook Pro.

Note that you must manually choose Apple > Lock Screen to lock your computer, since the mouse jiggler will trick the computer into thinking you are using it, so the lock screen will never kick in automatically.

The mouse jiggler continues to prevent the Touch Bar flashing, even when the screen is locked.

-Dave

Interesting work-a-round... I never heard of a "USB Mouse Jigglers"