You will need to contact customer service. My fridge was from 2005 and it was still covered under the $100 board replacement policy.

Even though the control board was replaced, I'm still getting a noise from the ice maker. It's high pitch like a when a motor is juiced but jammed. The ice maker is full of cubes. I need to shut off the ice maker to confirm the noise. I'm suspecting this noise is what took out the board in the first place cause it was present prior to having the board replaced. Help! :(

Refrigeration Troubleshooting.doc (645kb) downloaded 15 time(s).



(June 4, 2010)
Just to back up what the above poster and others have said, replacement of the two 470uF electrolytic capacitors located next to the heat sink worked for me as well.
My GE model number is: GSH22J FRE WW. It's about 6-7 years old and I've previously disassembled the entire freezer, searching for the source of an annoying howl or whining that seems to happen during the defrost cycle. Total waste of time and effort! Seems as though that poorly designed main FPC (motherboard) is to blame for most problems in these GE's.
Yesterday morning the refrigerator died completely-no cooling in either refrige or freezer. I could hear a rythmic clicking sound coming from the rear of the unit. It seemed to be loudest around the main circuit board compartment, which is really easy to access, by the way-a few screws, a plate and there it is, big green and ugly.
I noticed that every time it clicked, the condenser fan would move a bit and then stop (the fan would spin freely when I moved it with my finger, so it wasn't jammed or seized up).
At that point, I did a Google, found this thread, called GE and made an appointment, Unfortunately, the fastest they could get here was in 4 days and the estimated cost was $189.00 for the part plus "labor". Not an option!
I immediately returned to this site and decided to try the fix mentioned by several members, even though I'm no electrician. Had to do it, otherwise all the food would be toast, including the bread! I could clearly see that two of the caps were bulging out on top and one of the outer jackets appeared to be half slid off, so it was a no brainer.
If you've ever used a soldering iron, even if it was to burn doodles on wood as a kid, I would strongly suggest attempting this repair! It's that easy. Soldering iron costs $10. 2 caps (272-1030 Shack pt #) cost $4. You do the math. If you're afraid to remove a few plugs, and release pins to get the board off (with the refrige unplugged first, thanks) then forget it, just call GE or a local guy and hope they get there before all your food goes South.
I'm going to try to include a few pictures here that might help, but not sure if this site allows pix....I've circled the defective caps on the main board before removal and the next pic shows them removed and replaced with the new blue R Shack parts, which were a slightly different size and voltage (300v, not 250v), but were 470uF, just like the defective ones and there was no problem fitting them in. I tried to keep them as far away from the heat sink as possible, since that's what probably killed them in the first place.
The sound of that fridge starting right up after this fix is a beautiful thing! Thanks to all the previous posters here who figured this one out! IOU!

BTW, I ordered the main board from this site today anyway, even though the refridge is working because I don't trust the buggy, poorly designed nature of the thing. They've redesigned it multiple times since mine was made and judging by what others have said here, it's responsible for way too many opperational errors to be trusted as is, despite my fix. I'd rather not have to worry about losing everything in the unit sometime down the road. It cost me $129.54 including shipping, which is less than GE would have charged me for the part alone. Good deal, efficient people in the order department and definately a great site and thread. Thanks again!

Sometimes, depending on the situation, it really pays off when you invest some time and effort on a problem like this one-before you fork over cash to a "qualified professional". No offense to all the great techs out there!

When it's something that's way beyond my crappy skills, I'm more than happy to pay a pro to do it. I even accept the fact that a hefty price tag for a quick fix is OK, since you're paying for the tech's EXPERIENCE, not how easy it seemed to be or how long it took. Paying a pro to get out of a real jam efficiently is cool with me.

That said, you just don't want to get into the habit of running to the phone book every time something breaks down before at least taking a crack at it.

If GE had been able to send someone over quickly, before all the food in the fridge spoiled, I would have gone that route. Or if I could have gottten the mother board locally at a decent price, etc. Since these things weren't an option, I got motivated to do it on my own.

You mentioned the look on your wife's face when that refrigerator started up. If its a wife, a friend, neighbor, whoever-that look is just about priceless....and worth every minute of your time and effort!

Thanks for the feedback!

Sometimes, unplugging the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes and then plugging back in will temporarily solve the problem, so at least you have some extra time before the food spoils. If that doesn't solve the problem, you still have 6-10 hours or so before the contents go bad-as long as you KEEP THE DOORS CLOSED as much as possible!

Unless you're willing and able to follow the route I took (listed above, with pictures and explanation), and inspect the main board for swollen capacitors and find, remove and replace them with new ones, (cost is less than $5.00 if you have your own soldering iron/gun) then I would suggest waiting until the GE tech comes on Tuesday. Who knows, you might get lucky with some kind of partial warranty discount, at least.

If you decided to change the entire main board yourself, which is really simple, the price is fairly high (around $179.00?) and the earliest you could get one would be Monday morning anyway, plus you'd have to find a local parts supplier in your area who actually has one in stock.

Unfortunately, since it broke on the weekend, you have even fewer options than I did-sorry!

Would be good if you could post on this thread what the outcome was-after the refrigerator is up and running again. Could help the next guy who finds themselves in the same situation. Thanks.