Menu hangs in Catalina.

[PinkyMacGodess]

The menu bar, and the dock, will stop being able to be clicked. Scroll bars too. They will interact, IE darken when hovered over, but will not respond to clicks.

It even goes into the box that pops up when I hold the power button in. The choices will look like they are able to be clicked, but clicking on them is ineffective. This last time it happened, I was in FireFox, and it all just went sideways. No clicking on anything clickable worked. I had to hold the power button in long enough to get it to warm boot/crash out of it.

No error messages, it's just like humming along, and the system totally just ignores me. Once, it did 'replay' the clicks I had done, but that was after a few seconds. Lately, I have waited many minutes, and it just sits there like a cat, totally ignoring me.

I'm not posting to find a 'fix', I'm asking if anyone else has had this happen to them, and if they found anything out about why it happens. I've had to crash out while doing things that I'd rather not lose. GRRRR...

Thanks all...

I did search on this problem, but got a lot of 'crash' and 'menu' postings, as I'd guess I'd expect. *sigh*

 

[now i see it]

That's never happened to me ever on any version Mac OS

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

That's never happened to me ever on any version Mac OS

Me neither, until now.

 

[Honza1]

I have no solution, but obvious questions:
1. You tried different clicking device? I mean external mouse, other touchpad or some other source of clicks?
2. Some of these options can be controlled by tab - typical dialog comes with one option preselected and you can move between options by tab. You can then hit enter key when proper option is selected to execute the action. Sometimes specific letters work also. You tried this?
Basically, the question here is if this is pointing device failing or Catalina getting busy with something and ignoring clicks.
If it is not pointing device, my first solution would be: backup (may be twice on different media, just to be sure) and reinstall with the latest Catalina version - in place. Just run installer over the existing installation, using the latest full Catalina installer from Apple. This should be non destructive but it may fix some system issues by repacing all system files and resetting various system options. Resetting PRAM/NVRAM is also not bad idea.
Cheap tricks which sometime help. Else, no idea...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I have no solution, but obvious questions:
1. You tried different clicking device? I mean external mouse, other touchpad or some other source of clicks?
2. Some of these options can be controlled by tab - typical dialog comes with one option preselected and you can move between options by tab. You can then hit enter key when proper option is selected to execute the action. Sometimes specific letters work also. You tried this?
Basically, the question here is if this is pointing device failing or Catalina getting busy with something and ignoring clicks.
If it is not pointing device, my first solution would be: backup (may be twice on different media, just to be sure) and reinstall with the latest Catalina version - in place. Just run installer over the existing installation, using the latest full Catalina installer from Apple. This should be non destructive but it may fix some system issues by repacing all system files and resetting various system options. Resetting PRAM/NVRAM is also not bad idea.
Cheap tricks which sometime help. Else, no idea...

It's not the mouse. It's clicking, the screen, more like the part of macOS that handles the clicks just stops working. The thread seizing lasts, as I said, after the 'hold the power button in' message pops up. Like literally part of macOS just hangs. Weird. I thought it was one program, but it's happened in a few others too. FireFox does it if I have too many tabs open apparently. I had about 30 tabs open, and was moving between them, and *HANG*. FireFox then brought them all back after the restart, and things were good. I immediately closed down all the tabs, and moved on. But it's just bizarre when it happens. The whole system just sits there. No interaction possible...

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I'm not 100% sure based on your description... When this happens, does it affect only the app you're using or does it affect the entire system?

In other words, if the app you're using stops responding, can you click on the desktop to switch to Finder (or Command + Tab to switch apps) and does the Finder/other app's menu bar function normally?

When you say, "It's not the mouse. It's clicking, the screen..." How can you be clicking without the mouse? Even if you're able to move the mouse pointer it's possible the mouse button may be failing. If you have another mouse or trackpad, does it happen with that one as well? If it does, then you can more confidently say, "It's not the mouse."

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I'm not 100% sure based on your description... When this happens, does it affect only the app you're using or does it affect the entire system?

In other words, if the app you're using stops responding, can you click on the desktop to switch to Finder (or Command + Tab to switch apps) and does the Finder/other app's menu bar function normally?

When you say, "It's not the mouse. It's clicking, the screen..." How can you be clicking without the mouse? Even if you're able to move the mouse pointer it's possible the mouse button may be failing. If you have another mouse or trackpad, does it happen with that one as well? If it does, then you can more confidently say, "It's not the mouse."

It effects the app, and the dock, basically the entire system. Nothing *works* but the mouse still clicks (I can hear it). And I've had the mouse not click before and it's really weird. I haven't tried the keyboard commands because, honestly, I never knew the commands. I am a slacker and use the mouse 100%. But most of the UI still works. Like hover still works. It looks like the system is behaving normally, but the actual process that does the response to the click is just out to lunch at that point, and very rarely comes back. Yeah, I know, really freaking weird... It's like the brakes have failed in a car, or the steering. It doesn't stop/doesn't turn.

Another weird thing is that I had a fragment of a menu bar just appear in the middle of the screen. No frame, no 'rest of the window', just a partially filed in menu bar. I could even move it around, but I stopped playing with it for fear it would hard crash the system. I opened another app (the phantom bar was on the desktop) and then closed it, and the phantom bar was gone. I have a picture of it here somewhere. It's like Catalina is having a meltdown, or psychotic break occasionally.

 

[Honza1]

Backup and reinstall in place. It is cheap and can fixes these weird bugs. At least it did (over many years).

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's getting weirder!

I have a second monitor now, and if I'm copying files from one folder to another on the same system, the copy drag and drop all of the sudden pops over to the second monitor! Like right in the center of it! It happens in a flash, so after I saw it happening, it's hard to not end up with the copy bombing. It's most annoying, and very surprising. Like WTH! It's not funny...

This is obviously a bug somewhere!