Menu bar chopped off on Mac's built-in display

[pushover486]

Hi macrumors forum,

After upgrading my MacBook Pro 2020 (13-inch) to macOS Sonoma (14.5), I’m experiencing a strange issue where the menu bar icons are not vertically centered. The top part of the menu bar seems to be invisible and out of the screen.

The cursor can move beyond the visible screen area and becomes invisible at the vertical 0 position, suggesting that the actual screen area might not match the display area.

When I take a full-screen screenshot (Command + Shift + 3), the menu bar appears fine, indicating that the issue might be with the display rendering.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far without success:

1. Restarting the Mac
2. Using other resolution options
3. Resetting SMC
4. Checking for updates
5. Booting in Safe Mode
6. Rebuilding the Launch Services database
7. Creating a new user account
8. Reinstalling macOS

Has anyone else experienced this issue or have any suggestions on how to fix it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Bigwaff]

The menu bar placement and icon spacing in your pic look normal to me for Sonoma. What version of macOS did you upgrade from? If I recall, menu bar spacing between icons got wider starting in Ventura.

 

[galad]

Probably you enabled the display zoom, check the accessibility section in system settings.

 

[pushover486]

I have upgraded from Ventura.

My problem is not the spacing between the icons. My whole menu bar is cropped from the top. In other words, the margin under the text and icons is normal, but there is almost no margin above the text and icons.

I don't see anything related in my Zoom settings in the accessibility section.

 

[pushover486]

As a note, this is an Intel based Mac. I was wondering if anybody with an Intel CPU has this problem on macOS 14.5.

 

[ignatius345]

I don't see anything related in my Zoom settings in the accessibility section.

What about where it says "use trackpad gesture to zoom"? That's enabled in your screenshot. It's definitely not enabled by default (it isn't on my MacBook, anyway).

Have you tried the gestures listed there to see if they change anything? Double-tap with three fingers and then drag up/down to see what happens.

 

[pushover486]

No, unfortunately using trackpad gestures or disabling them don't solve this.

I tried using an external display, and menu bar was good there.

It seems I'm not the only guy who has this issue: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255040593

 

[pushover486]

I've submitted a bug report to Apple about this issue. I'll update this thread if I hear back from them.

 

[DeltaMac]

Almost looks like the software used to "adjust" the screen for the notch (on MBPros that have a notch) Any possibility you have an app like that?

 

[pushover486]

Almost looks like the software used to "adjust" the screen for the notch (on MBPros that have a notch) Any possibility you have an app like that?

This issue started occurring after a fresh install of Sonoma 14.5. I erased the disks using Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and restored a Time Machine backup during installation, excluding apps. The issue persisted even with a new user account created for testing.

I don't have any unusual apps; only common ones like XCode and VSCode.

 

[gilby101]

This issue started occurring after a fresh install of Sonoma 14.5. I erased the disks using Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and restored a Time Machine backup during installation, excluding apps. The issue persisted even with a new user account created for testing.

For a valid reinstall test, erase disk, install macOS and don't recover from TM. What happens then? This is to distinguish a hardware issue from something in settings or other software thing.

I don't think you have said, but can you confirm this is with the MBP's screen and not an external display.

 

[pushover486]

For a valid reinstall test, erase disk, install macOS and don't recover from TM. What happens then? This is to distinguish a hardware issue from something in settings or other software thing.

I don't think you have said, but can you confirm this is with the MBP's screen and not an external display.

This issue is with the MBP's screen. I tested with an external display, and the menu bar appears as expected on the external display.

Thanks for the suggestion, but erasing the disk and reinstalling macOS, including user data, is too disruptive for a work computer that I need daily.

 

[gilby101]

This issue is with the MBP's screen. I tested with an external display, and the menu bar appears as expected on the external display.

That makes me incline towards screen hardware.

Thanks for the suggestion, but erasing the disk and reinstalling macOS, including user data, is too disruptive for a work computer that I need daily.

I can understand that.

Suggestion: Install vanilla macOS to run on an external SSD. If the issue remains, you have a screen hardware problem.

 

[aarongray]

I was having the same problem and couldn't find anything that would fix it! For example:

It was really annoying because not only was the menu bar missing padding, the notch was covering up my apps so I couldn't see titles of word documents, names of web pages, etc. etc.

After going down many rabbit holes, this is what eventually fixed it for me.

System Settings -> Desktop & Dock -> Mission Control -> Enable Displays have separate Spaces -> Restart computer.

Voila!

 

[KALLT]

This issue started occurring after a fresh install of Sonoma 14.5. I erased the disks using Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and restored a Time Machine backup during installation, excluding apps. The issue persisted even with a new user account created for testing.

That does not rule out that something is misconfigured somewhere. Restoring from backup means restoring user and system settings too.

I don't see anything related in my Zoom settings in the accessibility section.

View attachment 2392104

Have you checked under "Advanced" as well? That is where you configure the display zoom.

Check also under Accessibility → Display whether you have set the "Menu bar size" to "Default".

 

[RoyRossi]

One other possibility I'll throw in here - It had nothing to do with my Mac after all. I had this issue with my Samsung monitor. The menu bar was not showing, but I knew it was "up there". Turns out it was a setting on my monitor. There is a button on back of the monitor that brings up a monitor menu. Under System, mine was in "AV mode" but it needed to be in "PC mode". That fixed it.

 

[Nermal]

One other possibility I'll throw in here - It had nothing to do with my Mac after all. I had this issue with my Samsung monitor. The menu bar was not showing, but I knew it was "up there". Turns out it was a setting on my monitor. There is a button on back of the monitor that brings up a monitor menu. Under System, mine was in "AV mode" but it needed to be in "PC mode". That fixed it.

"AV mode" seems to be a fancy name for overscan, which is something that should have died 20 years ago.