Well, it isn't looking good.

The new control board arrived today. It had a slightly different layout, but overall, appeared to be electronically the same. According to various postings (including Sears), the original board has been substituted, so I assumed I was OK to install it.

So, I installed this new $100 board and the result is basically the same - no response to key presses. HOWEVER, now the only LED blinking is the NORMAL light.

Ok - so a replacement board was sent and received and the results were the same. Here is what I have so far:

Original board: Blinking "Rinse" and "Add a dish". Will not run.
New board 1: Blinking "Normal". Will not run.
New board 2: Blinking "Normal". Will not run.

Reinstalled original board: Blinking "Rinse" and "Add a dish". Will not run.

So, what does this tell me.... well my first guess is that the board is not the problem. I suspect that Whirlpool changed the code in the control board which causes the lights to blink when there is a failure. I suspect that the blinking of the original board = the same as the Normal light blinking in the new board.

Sure would be nice if someone had information about the software in this board.

So, that leaves me with this.... what do the blinking lightes mean and what could possibly be keeping this machine from runnning????

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated....

For everyone's benefit....

I was able to get the dishwasher working and completely understand the cause.

First, my suspicion was correct in that the new control boards have updated software/firmware as compared to earlier releases. The result is that (in my case) a different set of lights will blink when in this failing state.

Second, the keypad is a combination of switches and diodes. The diodes appears to be used as both a protection mechanism from reverse or spike currents, as well as to bias the circuit. When any switch/button is pressed and contacts are correctly closed, a valid measurement (forward through the diode) should result in approx 4meg ohms. Of course unpressed would result in a complete open.

There are a few diodes in the keypad which are not switched and they too should measure approx 4meg (forward) and are not altered by any of the buttons.

In my case, the measurement between 3-11 resulted in approx 2meg. In the Tech Sheet, it suggests that 3-11 is for the "Soak & Scour" button. However, on my model I do not have this button/option, so I would expect this connection (3-11) to have been an OPEN and not 2meg.

Given that I already received and paid for a $100 control board unnecessarily, I did not want to now order a $200-$300 keypad without confirming the root cause.

In order to prove this theory, I cut the lead on the IC which traces back from P1-3 to the IC. Basically, I sacrificed my "Delay" and "Cookware" buttons, and the "Soak & Scour" part of the circuit which my machine shouldn't use anyway. It also disabled a segment on the LED display, but for testing purposes, this doesn't matter.

The result..... my dishwasher works correctly even with the original control board. This proves that the keypad is bad. At this point I can obviously choose to accept the sacrificed buttons and LED segment or replace the keypad.

I have inserted a picture of what I did (hopefully it is visible). I cut the circuit at the red line.

[IMG]http://images5b.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp633%3A6%3Enu%3D3262%3E468%3E356%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3C53%3B95%3C832%3Anu0mrj[/IMG]

I hope this information is helpful to someone.