GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board

Finally we have our refrigerator back to normal! In fact, it's better than what "normal" was for several years. We have been trying to get our refrigerator running right for the past month basically - it’s a long story that I can tell you all about, but the bottom line is that this GE Main Control Board was the final solution! A few months ago we started noticing an odd noise coming from our stainless steel side-by-side GE model # GSH25JSTCSS off and on. It sounded like a haunted house and I just kept hoping it wouldn’t totally die on me. Thankfully it didn’t totally die, but after a few months it did freeze up and the refrigerator section warmed up to around 60 degrees F one day. My husband found the source of the haunted house noise which was an evaporator cooling fan and so we thought surely that will be the problem, and we ordered a new fan, he replaced it, and the ghostly noises were gone, but…. Nope, it still didn’t cool right. At that time my husband had to leave to go out of town for a couple days so he told me to call a repair guy. I found the best local repairman I could find using Angie’s list and he came out and did the diagnostic test. First of all he checked the fan that hubby had replaced and said it was fine. Then he tested the thermostat and the heating element that defrosts the coils, and they were both fine. So he said the only other thing it could be was the timer switch for the heating element, but it was in the main control panel and that was going to cost almost $200, $300 total with labor (plus I already had to pay close to $80 for the diagnostics). So we thanked him and said we would consider our options. We searched and found this part - the GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board - and it was about half the price of the part from the local guy. We ordered it and it didn’t take very long to come, and we also ordered a new water filter as well! Only a year or so after we bought the fridge we ran into trouble with the water dispenser, but we know now it started with our city water. They had a main water line to bust and dirt got in the line and they didn’t flush the lines enough so dirt clogged our filter in the fridge. We actually didn’t know that was the problem for sure at the time, and we didn’t want to buy a new filter if something else was the problem. I don’t remember all the details but for some reason the icemaker stopped working around the same time. We didn’t know if it was related to the filter issue or what. So we just started using a filter pitcher and buying ice because the warranty was expired. (In the process of repairing our real problems recently, my husband flushed out the water lines and there was all kinds of dirt and mud that came out, so we know now.) When the control panel came, hubby installed it and replaced the filter and we had great tasting water and ice and the refrigerator was cooling again shortly after! But our happiness was very short-lived. Three days later I was taking everything out of the refrigerator because it was warm AGAIN! We had started putting everything into coolers at first but when we realized things were taking so long we bought an old upright fridge since we wanted an extra to go in the utility room anyhow. So now I was transferring everything back over to that fridge and feeling very frustrated! We thought that maybe the local repair guy was mistaken somehow, and since the other two parts he said could possibly have something to do with the coils freezing up were not expensive, we ordered those and hubby replaced those also. Once again things seemed to be great for a day or two, and then back to the same frozen coils and warm fridge. So we called the repair guy back and told him everything and he said that honestly he couldn’t think of anything else and that he had replaced some main control panels in the past that were defective, so we must have gotten a defective one unfortunately. That’s when we requested a new one to replace it, explaining everything as to why we believed it must be defective, and in just a few days there was a new one in our mail! As you can imagine we were very unsure but very hopeful at this point because we definitely didn’t have money for a new refrigerator and had already spent quite a bit on 4 new parts! Well, it’s been a week since hubby replaced the “Muthaboard” again and I am thrilled to say it’s still running perfectly - defrosting itself and maintaining a temp between 32 and 40 in the fridge! So it’s been a very long process but now I can confidently put a brand new gallon of milk in the fridge or anything else I want to stay cold! I can say for sure I do not take my refrigerator for granted anymore! And even though it was somewhat of an ordeal, we still came out way ahead financially compared to having the repair guy to do the work for us. So it was worth it for us in the long run, and I’m so happy to have my fridge back, now with ICE and WATER too! :D

TLDR: This worked great and was easy to install. =========================== I figured out my previous circuit board was fried the moment I removed its protective panel a couple days after a power outage; the board was literally "fried" with a capacitor (I believe that's what it was, one the two-centimeter-tall cylindrical twins) blackened and the smell of "fried electronics" wafting out from that area. I wanted to buy a new refrigerator; my current Hotpoint side-by-side with a water/ice delivery system was a part of a foreclosed deal I obtained a year ago and it was scummy (I never really put forth the effort to deep-clean it). After putting a thousand dollars on a credit card for a new fridge, I decided to try out a new circuit board instead after learning a little bit about taking the fridge apart to clean out other components. The return of the credit to my card was a motivator and oddly emboldened me to deep clean the thing while waiting for the circuit board to arrive (very happily with Amazon's pretty reliable Prime Time, by the way!) This circuit board works amazingly. Removing the old one was not enjoyable, as it ended up snapping back upon my hand and probably gave me tetanus or something, but other than that predicted attack the modular connectors were easy to identify and plug into this replacement (I also made sure that the component arrangement matched well, alongside using Amazon's determination tool to verify that this component would work with my refrigerator). So far, everything is working well. The freezer and fridge work again (I no longer have to use the snow-covered North Country New York weather as a temporary cooler!); I haven't tested out the water line and the ice maker honestly, but I assume those would work (the indicator lights and the lights themselves also work as expected).

My 2 year old bottom freezer refrigerator started to have the classic symptoms, not always cooling, one second clicking sound when not cooling. Some times the refrigerator cooled but not the freezer part. Sometimes neither part cooled while the fridge started to click. (Clicking is from relay noise). I ordered this universal board for my fridge from Amazon.com. I took advantage of the FREE shipping. It arrived quickly in a timely fashion. It was a sealed GE factory board and not a brand X board. First class! The board came with clear instructions to be used for your particular refrigerator. In my case, I removed the small rear panel on the back side of the fridge to expose the board. You then unplug the fridge, pull out the connector plugs from the board, remove the ground wire under a screw, remove the board off of 4 plastic standoff spacers, install the new board onto the spacers and then plug in all the wire connectors onto the new board. My new board had many more parts on it then the old board. You cannot plug the wrong connector into a wrong socket. Each connector has a different number of pins on it so any one plug will fit into only one socket. In some cases a wire needs to be cut on one of the plugs per the instructions, but for my model this was not neccessary. Also, for BOTTOM FREEZER refridgerators, you need to take the lower panel off exposing the compressor and check if you have a start capacitor on your fridge. (The diagram shows you where the start capacitor would be located if you have one). If you have one, you need to cut a ground wire off a plug. In my case no wire needed to be cut as I had no start capacitor on my fridge. In short all I had to do was to swap out boards on the fridge and then put the panels back in place with screws. For tools I needed a Phillips screw driver, but to remove the old board a pair of needle nose plyers helped removing the old board off the stand off legs as they needed to be squeezed before the board could be lifted off the standoffs one at a time. There are 4 plastic standoff legs holding the board in place. I didn't need to cut any wires but if you did need to cut one or two a small wire cutter would be handy. Otherwise a pocket knife would do the job. If you follow the clear instructions you won't make a mistake. In my case I could replace the board again now that I did it once in less then 5 minutes. Doing it the first time, so you don't mistake, should take you no more the 15 to 20 minutes being very careful. One last thing, THE BOARD FIXED THE REFRIGERATOR! (Please understand after reoplacing the board and turning the fridge on again, once plugging it back into the wall, will require hours of operation before the fridge and freezer are cold enough to turn the compressor off. In my case, with an empty fridge, I got tired of waiting to see if it would turn off after three hours of operation watching it. When I checked the next day, it was cold and not running. Everything was working just fine. It took a long time before it shut off even when the fridge was empty. (So be patient). You can do the repair yourself and save a lot of money! The part from Amazon cost about half the list price of the board, no tax, and I also saved the cost of the repairman's labor. In my case I had actually called a repairman, two weeks later he had the board but never showed up on his appointment. I fired him and did the job myself quicker and for less money. Lee Houston,Texas

Installed the board after the refrigerator damper door started staying open too long and the refrigerator side would freeze. The evaporator fan had also in previous years been 'revving' up and down rapidly. I didn't know at the time that it was a symptom of a failing board. Because of reading some of the appliance repair blogs, I decided to also replace the evaporator fan because it can be the cause of a failing board, and didn't want to be replacing a new board. Just before replacing the board, the evaporator fan wouldn't turn on as well. Lot going on here! Was able to bench test the damper door (fine). When I looked at the failed board there was a tiny burnt up IC so that sealed it for me. Replacing the board was easy (wear a ground strap), and everything is okay now. We'll see how long these upgraded boards last. I chose to buy it at Amazon instead of other appliance part websites because some charge restocking fees, and figured the chance of getting a board someone just got to troubleshoot would be lessened. Plus the price was a little better. Didn't care so much about getting an evaporator fan from one of them because those are going to be sturdier plus chances are they would have had to splice wires to connect it anyway. One can often find technical manuals for these refrigerators via the appliance repair forum/blogs, to help with troubleshooting. I bought a 1250 Joule surge protector to use with the fridge. Did not give this five stars because it is too soon to tell if it will be as good as the other.

13 yr old GE Elite stopped cooling. Ice maker lights barely came on and none of the temperature displays were lit inside the refrigerator. The only indication the fridge was alive were the lights in both the freezer and fridge side worked. A little research and I came to the conclusion the main control board (motherboard) was likely dead. We began looking at new fridges and also called a repairman. This is our “garage” fridge; the backup. So we didn’t want to pay $900+ to replace it but we’re spoiled by having a 25 cu ft backup. The repairman wanted $250 for the replacement part and $150 to install it. I was actually ok with that but he really didn’t think it was a good investment. Rather he pointed me to Craig’s List, recommending I buy a used “garage beater’ for $150. That’s not quite what I was looking for so I grabbed this motherboard and WOW! It worked like a charm!!! It took all of 15 minutes to remove the old one and plug in the new. The fridge started right up when plugged back in. So we didn’t buy a $900 garage fridge and didn’t pay 2x for the part through a local appliance repairman, let alone pay him $150 for 10-15 minutes of effort. You have to love Google YouTube the internet and how easy they make diagnosing appliance repair. In the last year I’ve repaired a fridge, dishwasher and washing machine. And I’ve saved $1000s. I’m not a trained mechanic but truly the basic appliances aren’t hard to repair with help from the Internet.

There are some outstanding reviews on this product! However, this review offers some new information which may be helpful. About a month or two ago, our GE Profile side by side started displaying erratic temperature readings on the display. We unplugged the refrigerator and plugged it back in. This appeared to solved the erratic temperature problem. At about the same time, we started to hear a very loud KLUNCK every time the compressor cycled. It was so loud it would actually startle you if you were in the kitchen when it cycled. After researching the KLUNCK, CLUNCK or KA-PLUNK or even THUD as is referred to on various DIY appliance repair forums, the prognosis was bad. Really bad! Everyone of them (except one) said your internal springs in your compressor are failing and it may last a day, a week, a month or more but it will fail and probably at the worst time so you just need to replace the fridge. I was not willing to accept that I needed a new fridge - the fridge looked brand new! It was almost ten years old but it looked like it just came out of the box inside and out. So I kept researching and found one lonely tech guy (out of maybe 15-20) who said the problem could likely be fixed by replacing the motherboard in a GE with known mother board defects. This made sense to me because the KLUNCKING sound started about the time the known mother board malfunctions appeared. So I took a chance and ordered the board for $105 with free shipping. We replaced the board and the fridge operates smoothly - with no KLUNCKING sound! I'm very grateful for the reviews and I hope this adds to our information base. Bottom line is GE's faulty motherboard design can cause a multitude of symptoms and confuse even the guru's on the DIY forums. When in doubt just make a cost benefit analysis ($105 board vs. new $1800 refrigerator) and replace the board! It's even cheaper than a service call. Technical Information: Model No: PSS265GPA SS Serial No: First Three SF 4 Old Board (defective): EBX1005G01 Rev. N New Board: This part Inspection of Old Board - No visible signs of burns, scorching, overheating or any outwardly visible defective parts.

Perfect replacement part. My particular board came as OEM in a sealed box. This item apparently replaces boards in several models. My original 2005 model GE side by side started making some fan noise about a year ago; it was an oscillating sound from the freezer. I did some research and found that the board in my refrigerator handles the fan speeds and that the board has had many issues reported on it and even a recall in 2006-2007. I didn't mind the sound, so I left things as they were. My ordeal really began this past Thursday night when the water dispenser failed. The green inidicator light was on, but no lamp, no water and the green indicator light went off when the arm was pushed in (the indicator should never go off). Friday morning, there was a distinct clicking noise from the back of the fridge (about one per second) and the compressor wasn't running. I pulled out the fridge and accessed the back; I removed the rectangular metal plate located behind the freezer about waist high (3 x 1/4in hex screws; two on top, one on bottom) and could see the board... I could also hear and feel the clicking around the relays on the board. There are four plastic pins that you will need to squeeze carefully with needle nose pliers to pull the board off. Local repair shops wanted me to pay for a visit in addition to the replacement part and schedule it for Monday, so I simply ordered direct from Amazon.. order placed on Friday at 10am and part was delivered and installed Saturday by 10:30am! The board looked almost identical to the old board with the exception of an additional relay, two more pin connector terminals, and a circular ground wire ring instead of the push terminal dangling off my board that plugs into the frame of the fridge. The instructions it ships with calls for cutting a wire if you have a bottom freezer. It lists the model prefixes, so you can't really screw up. It didn't apply to me, so I was able to "proceed to step 3". First thing I did was pull my green ground wire off of the two pins on my old board and swap them out with the one on the new board (I didn't feel like cutting off the new end and crimping a push connector on). The next thing to do was pretty much plug in the connectors to the same location on the new board. As I mentioned earlier, there are two extra terminals on the lower row of connectors. Fortunately, all of the terminals are of different sizes so it was easy to match the connector to the proper sized terminal; I only had one lower connector to plug into the middle terminal in the second row. With everything properly seated, I went ahead and plugged in the fridge. The compressor is now running, the water dispenses, and I am a happy camper again!

We have a GE Profile freezer on top model made in 2006. Like many other GE Profiles of this age, the main control board went bad. This can present itself in many different ways, and our particular issue was that it kept getting stuck in defrost mode. So about every 10-12 hours the defrost heater would kick in and stay on until the freezer reached about 37 degrees. Then it would suddenly realize that it shouldn't be doing this and would cool back down again. Very frustrating. I called a repairman and he told me that the issue was the control board. He told me he would fix it for about $650. I laughed at him and made him go away since I'd buy a new fridge before I paid that much to fix the current one (that I sort of hate anyway!). Soooo ... found a you tube video that showed me how to change the motherboard. Went online and figured out what part I needed. Found the part listed here (best price I could find!) and bought it. A few days later it arrived and my fridge was back up and running with no issues in under an hour. Very simple fix and saved me lots and lots of money. Note: The control board looked COMPLETELY different than the old one. All the documentation said this would be the case so I wasn't worried. Also, getting some of the connectors pulled off the old board was a bit difficult and took some patience. However, installing the new one once the old one was free and clear was effortless. The board arrived double boxed and well padded. It arrived on time. I'm a happy girl!