Since yesterday we noticed that our GE PDW9980N20SS's panel lights up but nothing happens when we press the start button. The start button's light turns on and off, but nothing happens, no noise of any kind and we confirmed that the panel is not locked.

On a hunch we open the front panel and changed the door latch switch with a good spare we had, but it looks like that did not help. We also removed the filter assembly at the base of dish washer (below the racks) and the control arm and cleaned it of all debris and dried soap.

For a while, the vent motor used to make a whining noise during the dry cycle, wondering if that finally gave up, it did look rusted.

Any help is greatly appreciated ? I don't have a multimeter, but I can get one if needed.

CJ

I just had same problem lights up but won't start I tried reseting by turning off power but I solved it there are two prongs sticking out right by the two wires that go off to the left for the vent.red and black the two prongs to the right of that plug will reset the board ..just short out the two with a screwdriver and then wait about two minutes and then press start .just thought I'd put this so other know hope it helps cause that sux calling the million dollar appliance guy lol peace yall

Is there a video to see this short cut

Pdw9280n00ss: same issues as reported in this thread. The report by TroyBoy of the 2 pins is “J11” on my system and shorting them will start my system. Not knowing the purpose of “J11” it is probably not a good idea. I bought the keypad membrane ribbon and it worked perfectly (thank you AppliancePartsPro). Some notes I did not find regarding this repair:

My unit was 14 screws around the inside of the door and 2 screws on the outside on the underside of the door. I needed to remove 12 of the 14 screws. There is 1 screw on each side of the latch. They hold blocks that handily support the door when the other screws are removed. I did not need to remove these screws, just a total of 12. Some online sources say to remove the 2 screws on the underside of the door. This is not necessary if you prop the door open. It is necessary only to remove the door. I removed the door and it made it easier to clean off the old glue. I used goop-off and a plastic scraper. According to the Service Manual, remove the keypad from right side to left side. The right side has a slot large enough for the connector to pass through.

The ribbon cable plug is very difficult to get a good grip on. I used needlenose pliers while using a screwdriver to hold down the locking tab.

The Service Manual says to do a recalibration of the machine after replacing the keypad or various other components. I did not see this referenced in any of the online repair comments or videos. I got the service manual using google search.