Toot Tech Support: I have a 2015 MacBook Pro that I use from time to time, but sometimes I’ll boot it up and the menu bar is completely gone, no windows can have focus, I can only right click, and the keyboard makes the error beeps whenever I type. Anyone know what this could be before I wipe it completely? I tried clearing PRAM/NVRAM
@christianselig One problem I had years back was an outdated kernel extension for an app I no longer used. Apple support worked on it twice and replaced the system board both times. I finally dug into and listed the kernel extensions and removed the bad one. Then it was all good.
@christianselig it may be that Finder is stalling, which may happen if a drive is stalling. I’ve seen them lock up the OS. If it’s a platter drive, all the more likely, or an external drive/interface.
@christianselig well I had similar symptoms with my MacBook and was freaking out. Then I discovered that the mouse I use was still on and in my backpack dosing crazy things 🤦🏻♂️
Probably a nice story that does not help you with your issue, though 😂
@christianselig without having it in front of me it sounds like it thinks there is a secondary display plugged in. That phantom display has the menu bar and there is some system app you can’t see with a modal dialogue you can’t get past. Which would explain the error beeps when you type and the inability to change app focus. Try plugging it in to a real external display to see if it kicks back to normal and shows you the app that’s stopping you. A PRAM clear should have fixed it though…
@christianselig I have no theories about the menu bar behavior, but it might be worth checking if any rogue bluetooth accessories are connecting automatically when it boots up. I had an old wireless keyboard in a drawer that somehow still had charge, and it started wreaking havok when one of its keys got held down.
@christianselig My Macbook Pro of the same year developed a swollen battery. I had trackpad issues before the swell was obviously visible. Might be worth looking at the palm rest with a straight edge to rule that out. (Maybe swelling can short-out/hold-down a key and cause your issues?)
@christianselig That reminds me that it started with a few keys missing if I didn't hit them harder. I thought it was just a worn out keyboard at the time. Sounds like the same deal.
@christianselig Have you tried reinstalling from the recovery disk? Are used to do that annually and it seems to clean some things up. Mines a 2013 and I haven’t run into this particular issue though.
@christianselig Something is stealing focus and won’t let Finder get it back. Check Prefs | Users and User Groups | Login Items for the culprit.
You can also try throwing away the entire Preferences folder in your user library if you’re out of ideas. It’ll leave all the data in place, but custom setting will be wiped. Easier than a full wipe, but still kinda Nuclear.
@christianselig option-shift-cmd-Q will log you out immediately, upon login you should be good again. We found that making sure your local user could read ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports fixed this for the machines that saw this issue ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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