Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Madwitch

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 4, 2013
42
2
North Yorkshire, UK
Over the last week or so, the screen on my MacBook Pro has been randomly shrinking to about 3/4 of it's normal size. This lasts a couple of seconds then it returns to normal but will do it several times in succession then is OK for a while. Tends to be when I'm trying to type something online, eg Facebook, Whatsapp etc (on Chrome). When it shrinks it has a blue border and I have to click on the screen each time to return it to normal. I've tried shutting down, restarting etc but doesn't seem to make much difference. Anybody any ideas please? It's doing my head in! Edit - video added.

 
Last edited:
Maybe it has something to do with the F10 key on the Touch Bar being constantly activated?
 
Can tell from the video, you're going into Expose because the Touch Bar is being activated at the F10 key. I don't know if there's a software way to disable that (can't check because I don't have a Touch Bar Mac anymore) but doing some quick Googling, things to try include turning off Bluetooth (this can sometimes happen with a misbehaving peripheral) or trying a boot into Safe Mode.

If it's a hardware problem with the touch sensors on the Touch Bar, the fix will be more complicated of course.

This thread also has instructions to disable Expose.
 
Can tell from the video, you're going into Expose because the Touch Bar is being activated at the F10 key. I don't know if there's a software way to disable that (can't check because I don't have a Touch Bar Mac anymore) but doing some quick Googling, things to try include turning off Bluetooth (this can sometimes happen with a misbehaving peripheral) or trying a boot into Safe Mode.

If it's a hardware problem with the touch sensors on the Touch Bar, the fix will be more complicated of course.

This thread also has instructions to disable Expose.
Thanks. It's exactly the same effect as pressing the F10 key - but it does it when I'm not even anywhere near it! I have a good hardware guy though so I'll take it to him. Thanks for replying.
 
Common issue with Touch Bar models due to failing hardware.

You can try doing an SMC reset, but generally the only way to resolve is replace the top case.
 
Jpack wrote in reply 8 above:
"Common issue with Touch Bar models due to failing hardware.
You can try doing an SMC reset, but generally the only way to resolve is replace the top case"


Guess the touch bar should be going the same way as the butterfly keyboard -- something that looked nice on the drawing board, but in the real world...?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.