Touch Bar doesn't show up but buttons work

Hi, i have a 13-inch 2020 macbook pro and i was wondering how to make the screen on my touch bar light up again. The buttons still work like if I randomly click on the touch bar i'm still able to kind of use the buttons. What else can i do aside from restarting my laptop, i also tried searching different ways but none seem to work and i don't want to bring my laptop in the apple store and possibly pay an expensive fee to get it fixed (yet). Any advice/tip would really help .Thank you in advance.

Posted on Sep 15, 2025 10:13 AM

Reply
1 reply

Sep 15, 2025 10:19 AM in response to beetreee

beetreee wrote:

Hi, i have a 13-inch 2020 macbook pro and i was wondering how to make the screen on my touch bar light up again. The buttons still work like if I randomly click on the touch bar i'm still able to kind of use the buttons. What else can i do aside from restarting my laptop, i also tried searching different ways but none seem to work and i don't want to bring my laptop in the apple store and possibly pay an expensive fee to get it fixed (yet). Any advice/tip would really help .Thank you in advance.


On an M-series Mac:


—Shut down and restart(?)


—A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.



On an Intel machine do both:


—resetting the System Management Controller Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support


— resetting NVRAM/PRAM Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support



if no resolve take it in and let Apple tell you the cost of the repair, and go from there.


In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple


Outside the USA

Contact Apple Support - Apple Support



Touch Bar doesn't show up but buttons work

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