A little backstory will help here.
We've been stocking our freezer for months with various meats, game, prepared meals, casseroles, and vegetables in preparation for bad weather and bad times we hoped would never come. It was about as fully packed as humanly possible.
Then one day I heard it alarming. The display was flashing and showed a slightly higher temperature. I heard the compressor try to start and kick out much like when a run capacitor is going bad.
I checked the wall outlet and power cord but didn't find a problem. Regardless of the problem, hundreds of dollars worth of food were at risk, so I ordered another freezer.
While I was moving the food to the new freezer, I noticed that the interior light would not come on. Normally on most appliances I have worked on, the light is simply wired from the hot line through the door switch to the neutral line.
In this case, when I looked at the wiring diagram on the back of the cabinet, I saw that all power, including the light, is controlled by the motherboard.
That was the answer!
The motherboard had to be the problem.
When the new board arrived, the included instructions were almost perfect. I used the recommended putty knife, although it took some hammering to force it between the door and the display/motherboard housing. A word of caution here - it did leave a couple of minor scratches in the door finish.
It ultimately took two putty knives and a small prybar to develop enough force to break the display loose
It only took a few minutes to figure out how to pry the board out of its plastic clips without damaging anything.
Another point of interest - I expected to find the board attached to a length of cable when I removed it. Instead, it just pulls straight out of a mating plug firmly attached to the door.
Replacing the panel required some firm bumping all around it to correctly engage the plug and but firmly up against the door
The final result is that the freezer works perfectly and I have a lot more room to properly organize and stack my food.LFFH21F7
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