HT2473: Mac 101: The menu bar

Learn about Mac 101: The menu bar
Kerry141

Q: Black menu bar

My menu bar has gone black.  How do I fix this?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 1, 2013 6:29 PM

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Q: Black menu bar

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  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Sep 1, 2013 6:39 PM in response to Kerry141
    Level 10 (124,311 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 1, 2013 6:39 PM in response to Kerry141

    Which OS X is installed Kerry?

  • by Kerry141,

    Kerry141 Kerry141 Sep 1, 2013 8:17 PM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 1, 2013 8:17 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Hi Carolyn,

    10.8.4

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Sep 3, 2013 9:44 AM in response to Kerry141
    Level 10 (123,855 points)
    Sep 3, 2013 9:44 AM in response to Kerry141

    Hi Kerry,

     

    Not on 10.8 to check files & locations are the same, but an old cure was...

     

    Apple Menu Bar Icons Gone...

     

    Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions.

     

    PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive

     

    You've probably got a couple of corrupt preference files.

     

    Move these files to the Desktop for now...

     

    /Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

     

    /Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences>com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

     

    /Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/ByHost>com.apple.systemuiserver.xxx.plist

     

    where 'xxx' is a 12 digit (hexadecimal) numeric string.

     

    Reboot.

     

    This will reset your Menu Bar to the default, you'll need to go through System Preferences to reset the ones you need. (If they are already checked, uncheck them first and then recheck them).

     

    Or...

     

    Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

     

    Does it work in the new account?

     

    Or...

     

    Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

     

    If that doesn't help Reinstall the OS.

  • by Kerry141,

    Kerry141 Kerry141 Sep 7, 2013 6:59 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 7, 2013 6:59 AM in response to BDAqua

    Oddly, it came back on its own, but I will keep this mind if it happens again.  Thanks!

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Sep 7, 2013 10:25 AM in response to Kerry141
    Level 10 (123,855 points)
    Sep 7, 2013 10:25 AM in response to Kerry141

    OK, good luck!