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A1706 / EMC 3071—Released in November 2016, this 13" Macbook Pro introduces the OLED Touch Bar. Features a dual-core "Skylake" Intel Core i5 CPU and four Thunderbolt 3 ports.

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TouchBar not responding to touch after screen replacement

Dear Community,

I replaced the screen of my MBP with this LCD Assembly for Macbook Pro Retina 13" A1706/A1708

The screen works just fine, but the TouchBar does not react to touch anymore. It still reacts and shows the corresponding buttons to the programme I am using at a given moment.

Also notable is, that I cannot find the TouchBar agent in the activity monitor. I tried already to restart the agent in the terminal and reset the SMC. I fear that I ordered a wrong screen or damaged it during the repair.

Would appreciate any tips!

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Did you remove the logic board?

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@danj No I followed these instructions very closely MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Late 2016 Display Assembly Replacement

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Sadly that leaves the only thing left is when you damaged the display the Touch Bar also got damaged too.

The Touch Bar display is independent of the main screen from a connection perspective to the main logic board. The driver & touch logic is part of it: MacBook Pro 13" Retina (Late 2016-2017) Touch Bar Assembly.

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MacBook Pro 13" Retina (Late 2016-2017) Touch Bar Assembly

$54.99

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Thank you for the quick answer. Is there a guide (on a similiar device) which shows how to install it?

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Sorry we just don't have a guide that walks you through it. I'll warn you this is not as easy as the display changeout as you'll need to remove the display and logic board from the upper case and using a heat gun carefully heat the touch bar as well us solvent to unglue it from the upper case. You can see how difficult this is looking at the MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar Teardown. Jump down to Step 15. You'll need to shield the keyboard from the heat as well.

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@pestarzt Did you ever figure out what happened and how did you fix? I just replaced the display assembly on my mid-2017 MBP 13 w/Touch Bar and after reassembling the screen worked fine but, the Touch Bar would not respond to touch. It did however, display the commands, options etc. as expected.

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@kenlrich - Did you try resetting the Touch Bar? Unlike the display aspect resetting often fixes the touch function. If not time for the same repair.

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@danj Thanks for the response... I tried all of the resetting commands with different variations for the process names I found doing a google search. I have 2 of the exact same laptops so I can compare and contrast settings. Interesting that on the one not working the "TouchBarServer" process is not present. the "Control Strip" process is present on both. I also ran diagnostics (option+d on startup).. no issues. Also reset NVRAM and SMC.

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Are they running the exact same OS versions and maintenance levels?

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@danj - Yes, 10.5.4 Catalina

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@kenlrich - OK, Brute force time! Create an external bootable drive with Catalina from the system which has the 'TouchBarServer' process working. Remember you need to have the external setup with GUID - APFS. Using this drive boot up this system using it. Is 'TouchBarServer' process still present? If it is jump to the other system and boot up under it. What happened? You may need to restart the processes.

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Hi @pestarzt , I have the same problem as yours, did u figure out how to fix it?

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Hey @roy678, no I could not fix it to this day. Even though I did not try yet what Dan suggested to kenlrich. So far I am using "TouchBarServer.app" which I found somewhere on Github to simulate the touchbar.

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@pestarzt Thanks!!!

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Did u find afix?

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@kirkmcphee - The fix is the answer I offered.

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this is the second screen replacement I’ve had this happen to, but it looks like I’ve fixed it. I’m a repair shop so I have access to just the touch bar module. Just to see what happens, I disconnected the battery, connected the new Touch Bar (just the digitizer, the lcd is under the board). Booted it up and the touch works on the new bar. Reversed everything and connected the old Touch Bar, and everything works again. Hope it’s a permanent fix. Works after a restart, too.

Edit for clarification: you need to have another Touch Bar module on hand. This is the 10” strip of glass that houses the digitizer and OLED. You will need to order one from your favorite shop. Connect the new module to the computer, just the digitizer connection, you can leave the OLED connection for the one still attached the the keyboard. Boot the machine, test the external TB module touch, if it works, turn off machine and reconnect original TB digitizer connection. That’s what worked for me.

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Hey Ryan,

thank you so much for coming back to this old thread. I didnt bring my tools for Christmas Holidays so I will try your solution as soon as I find the time for it.

Wish you great holidays and a better new year!

Felix

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Hi, I am having the same problem here. Would you be able to elaborate on this fix so I can explain it to a tech who can help me?

Ben

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It sounds like you simply just plug in an extra digitizer with the cables inside the problem computer then reconnect them to the existing digitizer and it works again. Is that correct?

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I have the same issue as the OP, replaced the screen assembly, now the touch bar looks fine but does not respond to touch. Like Ben says, can you describe in greater detail what mojo you did to get the bar working?

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I experienced the same problem and the solution in my case was to clean the touchbar connector with a toothbrush, you don't loose anything trying, hope it works for you too.

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Dear Josema,

just saw your answer and appreciate your suggestion. Will try it as soon as I find the time!

Kind regards,

Felix

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Replaced more than 10 screens! of 2017 Macbook Pro’s, which is basically the same as 2020 M1 screen, never ever had any problem!

This is my first M1 Macbook and the TouchBar won’t light up with the new screen.
It’s responding to touch, but no backlight. Fitted back the old broken screen, TouchBar working just fine.

So, I isolated the issue down to a firmware/software problem, nothing to do with the TouchBar itself... Still no solution…

Update (11/10/2021)

I was able to reset the TouchBar with terminal command, and now it’s fine!

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Hey Sultam,

what exactly do you mean by "reset the TouchBar with terminal command". Can you elaborate on that? Like I said in my very first post I cannot find the Touchbar Agent in the activity monitor so I was expecting some firmware/ software problem as well.

Kind regards

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hi, i just solved this problem. just remove the touchbar connector then reinsert it again,

apparently mine was not connected properly. i really dont know how it was unconnected since the screen replacement did not touch this part. but anyways give it a try.

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Hey Jamie,

just wanted to let you know that I am still reading all the answers and appreciate yours as well. As soon as I find the time I will try your suggestion.

Kind regards,

Felix

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