SO, our 3 year old, out-of-warranty GE microwave oven stopped working yesterday.
Details: It has power (though along with the “real” problem of it no longer running the oven light has at the same time stopped working). The touch appears to function normally until you press “start” which it doesn’t do. I’ve tried “rebooting” by unplugging/ replugging but no go.
The clock still works! 
Unless you’re handy and can diagnose it yourself - and repair it yourself - say something trivial, it’s done. Any shop labor rate is going to be $50 to $100 just to say “Yep, it’s broke.”
Microwaves only have 4 parts (at least for the radiation part):
Transformer
Rectifier
Capacitor
Magnetron.
It’s 99% chance that the Rectifier is bad. Replacement ones are $30. Find a handyman who knows how to solder, and work on HV circuits, and have him fix it.
Replace. Microwaves are super-cheap now. If you spend $200, it’s deluxe.
Any repair shop around here will start at $100 for labour and add parts from there.
Or you could go used and get a great deal if $200 is expensive for you. I’ve bought a ton of used stuff and it’s almost always been a good idea.
I was thinking the fail safe trigger isn’t being tripped.
OP, check your door and make sure it’s latching properly.
Yes, door interlock failure is a good bet.
I paid $65 for my microwave, brand new. It has a touchpad, LCD display, and all kinds of presets and other bells and whistles. It still works perfectly after two years. It would cost more to fix it than to just buy another one.
I vote replace. They are cheap enough and usually last long enough. The repair cost and time investment to do so is just not worth it. I’ve had 3 microwaves in the past 10 years, the LCD part is always what fails in my experience (I always lucked out and one or two buttons still worked, so technically they were “OK”). My WAG is that the capacitor in it will hold a powerful charge for quite a while, so if you do try to fix it yourself, be really wary of that part.
Replace, unless it’s a built in which is much costlier. Even then: seriously consider replacing, and spend the money for an extended warranty.
If it’s standalone, the parts to fix it will cost nearly as much as a new oven. If it’s built-in, the repair parts will cost about half as much as a new oven.
Oh, and GE’s quality is really disappointing, though mostly the built-in types. We had a GE over-the-stove at our last house. It was less than a year old before we sold the place; we later heard it died within a year of the sale (i.e. at less than 2 years old). The house we moved to had a GE built-in, which died within a year. 250 bucks to fix it, and it died again within a year.
We used a countertop (a GE actually) for a number of years because we didn’t want to shell out for another built-in. Finally we did - another GE - and it died after 4 years.
When that happened (and the behavior was just like the old one: it would run nonstop unless we unplugged it), my husband spent several hundred dollars on replacement parts, each of which got it working for a week or so, before I put my foot down. It’s now dead space in the cabinetry; we bought a set of shelves and a countertop microwave, which together cost less than a new built-in.
Extended warranties can be surprisingly cheap, too. I happily paid $6 for a two-year warranty for mine. It’s a Hamilton Beach. Even if I never use it, I won’t miss the $6.
A few years back, ours quit working. The punch-pad was kaput. The part would cost $270 alone. Sayonara. Kept the glass tray, makes a nice cutting board.
Replace.
I’ve always kept the glass trays as well, for the most part they seem pretty universal too.
My 4.5 year-old GE microwave stopped working overnight 4 months ago; no longer radiates, just a carousel ride for bowls of food. All the other functions function so when I have the money I’ll have it looked at for a likely door failsafe malfunction. It’s hardwired in and I can’t lift it on my own, so I’d have to get outside help if I want to replace it anyway. I’m happy to poke around the guts of my dishwasher all day long but the large, heavy box of radiation is hands off for me.
I guess planned obsolescence is rampant here. I have a 30-year-old microwave which still works perfectly. I’ve been wondering for the past couple years when it’s going to go caput, but it hasn’t yet. I don’t remember exactly what I paid for it, somewhere around $300, I think. Looks like I got my money’s worth.
BTW, because keypad failure is so common on these, in recent years I’ve made a point of to try to use all the numbers approximately equally and not use the zero key all the time. Much like this, except using all the digits. Unfortunately, I still have to use the 1 key more often than the others.
[OP here] It’s been 10 days and I’m sure you’re all dying to know hear the latest about our microwave oven!
Well, it’s still sitting on our counter, handsome as ever and telling time like a pro but the situation has grown curiouser and curiouser.
Off and on over the past week I’ve optimistically tapped it’s touch pad to no avail whatsoever EXCEPT for a few hours last Wednesday, when I opened the door and
whadaya know… the interior light came on (it had stopped working at the same time as the other functions). Sure enough it was cookin’ again and did so for the rest of the day.
Sadly the next morning we were back to owning and other-wise useless big countertop clock.
What’s going on?
There’s a bad capacitor somewhere. Takes days to charge. Might happen again; test it again in a few days, if it works, it’s still broke.
(Disclaimer: None of the above is probably accurate.)
The fact the light sometimes isn’t coming on when you open the door sounds to me like the door switch isn’t working well.
The fact the oven sometimes isn’t radiating when you push [start] with the door closed sounds to me like the door switch (and/or safety interlock) isn’t working well.
These are cheap simple parts, but as others have said, a working microwave from a nearby garage sale will set you back $15 and be quicker & easier to do.
Gonna say the same: $70 for a nice counter-top fella, less than a cubic foot, but plenty enough for a two-quart bowl. It’s already a replacement for a replacement. The first lasted 15 years; the second lasted 3 years. Had the third for about 2 years now.
$3.50 a year? Great deal!