Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - GE F7 Error on JTP56
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dlevens
10-07-08, 10:37 PM
I hope this helps others.
I found a good PDF guide that solves many of these dreaded F7 errors. http://www.applianceblog.com/manuals/Dreaded_F7_Problem.pdf
But this guide only goes part of the way. Here is my experience and how I fixed this issue for the last time without having to spend nearly $400 on parts to buy a new ERC or control panel.
In my case many of the assumptions made on forums all over the internet would have caused me to spend close to $375 to replace an ERC and panel both of which were perfectly fine. The card trick in the PDF also did not work.
I think the claim that if you get an F0 error when the control panel is disconnected that you must have a bad ERC is not true. Also the claim that the F7 error indicates the control panel is bad, is also not always true.
In my own personal case when I remove the control panel I get the F0 error after 5 minutes. When I connect the control panel I was getting F7 errors. I would remove the ribbon cable and use an eraser then reinsert the ribbon and things were good for months.
Then the F7 came back weekly, then daily, then would go away just long enough for us to use the oven an hour or so. Eventually I gave up and started searching the internet. I found one forum with some yoda fan and his ridiculous insistence of trying to talk like him, overlooking this nonsense I listened to the suggestions and the claim from Jedi appliance guy that "It's been my experiance when you have an F7 with the keypad attached that changes to a F0 with the keypad detached you need both keypad and ERC. If you get a F0 with the keypad detached the ERC is bad <period>."
There are probably several cases where the ERC is bad or the control panel is bad or even both. But the F0 error is not proof positive of this, nor is the F7 error proof that the control panel is bad.
In my case the symptoms I had match most of the posts around the internet and what fixed my problem was as simple fix that took 1 second and a pair of scissors and some tape.
The problem all along was just a poor connection where the ribbon connects to the ERC. Even the first time I pulled the ribbon off I noticed the bottom of the ribbon had rubbed away connections.
To fix this all I had to do was cut off the bottom 1/4 inch of the ribbon cable with a pair of scissors and insert back into the ERC. By cutting off the end of the ribbon cable I got rid of the rubbed away connections and got fresh new ones that normally could not reach the ERC pins. While I was at this I also turned the power off and used a very tiny screwdriver and bent the metal pins away from the plastic so that when I insert the cable it grabbed very tightly. Then around the metal slot where ribbon cable goes through I put blue painters masking tape so that there was no metal contact with the ribbon cable.
For the first time in over a year, every button worked on this oven, no more F7 errors. Everything is working great now. Before I could not go even a few hours without F7 beeping errors.
Also the way I knew my ERC was good, even before I found this solution, was I took a small wire and connected pins 7 and 13 on the ERC where the ribbon cable normally went, then turned the power on, this simulated a control panel was connected, and guess what? No F0 errors either.
F0 may in some cases may mean that the ERC is bad, but it also can mean the control panel is just not connected.
The reason why a new panel fixes some people is because it comes with a new ribbon cable.
And if someone is going to drop $150 on a new panel it is worth suggesting to first try cutting off the bottom 1/4 inch of the ribbon cable and try that first.
Hope this was helpful.
Dennis Levens
I found a good PDF guide that solves many of these dreaded F7 errors. http://www.applianceblog.com/manuals/Dreaded_F7_Problem.pdf
But this guide only goes part of the way. Here is my experience and how I fixed this issue for the last time without having to spend nearly $400 on parts to buy a new ERC or control panel.
In my case many of the assumptions made on forums all over the internet would have caused me to spend close to $375 to replace an ERC and panel both of which were perfectly fine. The card trick in the PDF also did not work.
I think the claim that if you get an F0 error when the control panel is disconnected that you must have a bad ERC is not true. Also the claim that the F7 error indicates the control panel is bad, is also not always true.
In my own personal case when I remove the control panel I get the F0 error after 5 minutes. When I connect the control panel I was getting F7 errors. I would remove the ribbon cable and use an eraser then reinsert the ribbon and things were good for months.
Then the F7 came back weekly, then daily, then would go away just long enough for us to use the oven an hour or so. Eventually I gave up and started searching the internet. I found one forum with some yoda fan and his ridiculous insistence of trying to talk like him, overlooking this nonsense I listened to the suggestions and the claim from Jedi appliance guy that "It's been my experiance when you have an F7 with the keypad attached that changes to a F0 with the keypad detached you need both keypad and ERC. If you get a F0 with the keypad detached the ERC is bad <period>."
There are probably several cases where the ERC is bad or the control panel is bad or even both. But the F0 error is not proof positive of this, nor is the F7 error proof that the control panel is bad.
In my case the symptoms I had match most of the posts around the internet and what fixed my problem was as simple fix that took 1 second and a pair of scissors and some tape.
The problem all along was just a poor connection where the ribbon connects to the ERC. Even the first time I pulled the ribbon off I noticed the bottom of the ribbon had rubbed away connections.
To fix this all I had to do was cut off the bottom 1/4 inch of the ribbon cable with a pair of scissors and insert back into the ERC. By cutting off the end of the ribbon cable I got rid of the rubbed away connections and got fresh new ones that normally could not reach the ERC pins. While I was at this I also turned the power off and used a very tiny screwdriver and bent the metal pins away from the plastic so that when I insert the cable it grabbed very tightly. Then around the metal slot where ribbon cable goes through I put blue painters masking tape so that there was no metal contact with the ribbon cable.
For the first time in over a year, every button worked on this oven, no more F7 errors. Everything is working great now. Before I could not go even a few hours without F7 beeping errors.
Also the way I knew my ERC was good, even before I found this solution, was I took a small wire and connected pins 7 and 13 on the ERC where the ribbon cable normally went, then turned the power on, this simulated a control panel was connected, and guess what? No F0 errors either.
F0 may in some cases may mean that the ERC is bad, but it also can mean the control panel is just not connected.
The reason why a new panel fixes some people is because it comes with a new ribbon cable.
And if someone is going to drop $150 on a new panel it is worth suggesting to first try cutting off the bottom 1/4 inch of the ribbon cable and try that first.
Hope this was helpful.
Dennis Levens