MacBook Pro 2019 - menu bar above keyboard is flashing light repeatedly

[podbay]

Hello. I am using a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019), macOS Monterey 12.2.1. In the past 2-3 weeks, the menu bar above the keyboard (the one you touch) has started flashing or flickering bright white light randomly when I am not using the machine. It happens on the right side of the bar, where the brightness, sound level, and Siri options are listed.

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing, and if anyone has a solution to make this stop. Otherwise the MacBook is working fine without any other issues.

Any thoughts or comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[pm-r]

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same thing, and if anyone has a solution to make this stop.

I am sorry I do not have an answer, but Google provides a good number of hits with a search so is there may be a solution among them that you could use:

Google Search

Good luck.

- Patrick
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[podbay]

Patrick: No apology necessary. I ran the search that you suggested and I think I found a solution to this nagging problem. Thank you kindly for taking the time to respond to my question, I sincerely appreciate this a lot!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Please post your solution so that others may benefit.

 

[podbay]

I followed the link that Patrick provided in his reply to my query: MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019 menu bar above keyboard is flashing light repeatedly - Google Search

The search led me to this page: How to remove TouchBar flickering on MacBook Pro. That's where I found the solution. I'm not 100% sure it worked, but hopefully it did.

 

[podbay]

Well, I need to report that the solution I used has not worked. This morning, the touch bar was still flickering like crazy. I’ll need to do more work on this later today.

 

[pm-r]

Well, I need to report that the solution I used has not worked.

Bummer...
As part of your investigation into the problem, have you tried doing a cold boot and using Safe Boot Mode and see if anything improves???


- Patrick
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[podbay]

Patrick: I will try this this afternoon. But once I'm in Safe Boot Mode, what do I do next? Thank you for your help. - Randy (podbay)

 

[pm-r]

Patrick: I will try this this afternoon. But once I'm in Safe Boot Mode, what do I do next?

Hi Randy, just for your information, Safe Boot Mode is often used just to see if it clears up a problem or not as a means of diagnostics.

Enabling Safe Boot Mode disables most third party extensions, so if the problem disappears when it is enabled you know it is most likely from a third-party extension or software.

If that is the case, the next problem is sorting out which third party extension or application Is causing the problem. That's the real pain in the ... ...

By the way, to get out of safe boot mode, just restart your Mac normally. Also some normal Applications don't always work properly when safe boot mode is enabled.


- Patrick
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[podbay]

Hello. So I tried the cold boot followed by a safe mode boot and the problem remains. I'm not sure where to go from here. Thank you for your help and suggestions. - Randy

 

[Rod]

This would seem to be a fairly common problem which Apple really should cover because the price of repair (out of warranty) seems to be around $400.00 and keyboard replacement isn't covered under extended warranty.
I have seen recommendations such as:
"How do I stop the flickering touch bar on my MacBook Pro?
Go to Activity Monitor on your Mac- search for 'TouchBar Server' and quit it by clicking on the 'x' on the top left. Also quit 'Control Strip'. This immediately stopped the flickering for me.2 Jan 2021"
Certainly worth a try, but replacement seems to be the ultimate solution.

 

[podbay]

Thanks for the tip. After one quits TouchBar Server” and “Control Strip”, can both of these programs be restarted afterward?

 

[lclev]

Thanks for the tip. After one quits TouchBar Server” and “Control Strip”, can both of these programs be restarted afterward?

Yes, If you shutdown or reboot they should both reload. Quitting both of those in Activity monitor is just temporary.

Lisa

 

[podbay]

Thank you, Lisa.

 

[Rod]

Let’s hope it stays fixed after reboot. The article didn’t say. Let us know how it goes, I’d be really interested in how well it works.

 

[podbay]

Unfortunately, nothing has changed. I may need to book an appointment at the Genius Bar to find out if there is a fix for this. Argh!

 

[Rod]

Well, thanks for letting us know. Good luck with the Genius Bar. I’d love to know if they have an answer, other than replacement.

 

[tbleck]

This is probably a hardware issue with a loose connection of the touch bar. I was never able to fix mine and eventually replaced the machine with a newer one (never liked the touch bar anyway). Let us know what the genius says.

 

[Cathleen R]

I am having exactly the same problem.
So... is it a hardware problem or software? Can I do something to fix it, or does it have to be repaired?
It's so annoying, the flashing bar, that I actually can't work with it doing the flashing.
Thank you,
Cathleen

 

[Rod]

Welcome to these forums Cathleen. As you can see podbay did not reply with the outcome of his visit to the Genius Bar so non of us having a personal experience with this problem or a solution for it the answer is uncertain. From the articles other members have posted links to, it seems like a software problem but in podbay's case none of the fixes worked permanently. My guess is it's probably a combination of software and the strip itself. My wife has a 2018 MBP with the touch strip and so far no problem. So, it's not a universal problem but when it does occur top deck replacement seems to be the only answer. Do have a look at pm-r's post #2 in this thread. There may be a solution that actually works for you. If so do please let us know. If not, well, $400.00 is still cheaper than a new Mac Book.