# Help With Garage Door Opener
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 22, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979 "2008-10-22T00:15:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/1 "2008-10-22T00:15:39Z")
I believe I have an issue with the programming on my garage door remotes.
The other day both remotes for the one side of our two-car garage just stopped working. Of course, the wall unit that gets AC power still opens and closes it, so I know the general mechanical nature of the opener itself is functioning properly, and the sensor eyes are also positioned correctly and are properly illuminated and stop the door from coming down if they get blocked as they should.
My first thought was that we needed new batteries, although I found it highly suspicious that both remotes ceased working at the same time and for no apparent reason.
So, I replaced the batteries and they still didn’t work. Then I suspected from some online browsing that I needed to reprogram the remotes, which I attempted to do.
This (warning PDF) was what I found about my 12 year old unit about reprogramming: [http://www.managemyhome.com/mmh/lis\_pdf/OWNM/L0802446.pdf](http://www.managemyhome.com/mmh/lis_pdf/OWNM/L0802446.pdf)
Well, I tried what it suggested multiple times and it still won’t enable the remotes.
What gives?
Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/2 "2008-10-22T01:07:22Z")
Sounds like the receiver is shot. It might be a separate replaceable module, or you can buy an aftermarket receiver and install it.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/3 "2008-10-22T01:10:55Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Sounds like the receiver is shot. It might be a separate replaceable module, or you can buy an aftermarket receiver and install it.
Would that be a part of the circuit board that I can see on the opener’s side? The instructions I posted show this button I have to push (which is located on that circuit board that’s partially visible) to synch up the remotes. This is definetely an older unit, and as we head into winter, I’m wondering if I can get this thing to work for minimal $$.
And as I stated before, the opener itself works, but there’s either a remote programming issue or as you say, a signal receiving issue from the remotes.
Weird that it just suddenly stopped working without any intermittent misbehavior first.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/4 "2008-10-22T01:19:12Z")
Some friends of ours were involved in that major power outage in Cincinnati while we were out of town. We only lost power for a few hours while they were out for days, so we gave them our keypad code so they could use our house and refrigerators. When we got back our remotes wouldn’t work, and I thought it was a programming issue where the receiver “forgot” the remote code during the outage.
It turned out there was a button on the opener inside the garage that would lock the receiver to make it ignore the remotes. All we had to do was push the button again and all was well. We had never used it, it came with the house without instructions, and I didn’t even know what it did until I downloaded the manual over the intertubes.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/5 "2008-10-22T01:36:48Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> Some friends of ours were involved in that major power outage in Cincinnati while we were out of town. We only lost power for a few hours while they were out for days, so we gave them our keypad code so they could use our house and refrigerators. When we got back our remotes wouldn’t work, and I thought it was a programming issue where the receiver “forgot” the remote code during the outage.
>
> It turned out there was a button on the opener inside the garage that would lock the receiver to make it ignore the remotes. All we had to do was push the button again and all was well. We had never used it, it came with the house without instructions, and I didn’t even know what it did until I downloaded the manual over the intertubes.
Funny, I live in the Cincinnati area, but up here in Hidden Valley, we don’t have telephone poles (nor Duke Energy Co), so we never lost power for more than a brief moment.
I looked at that “lock” button on the inside “remote” that has ac power and I pushed it…and then the green LED on the remote blinked on and off until I pushed it again.
I am kind of leaning towards accepting **beowulff’s** answer at face value, but it would be kind of odd for the receiver to just blink out like that without some intermittent issues…right?
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/6 "2008-10-22T02:20:13Z")
Not necessarily. Electronics can crap out with no warning at all.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/7 "2008-10-22T04:53:27Z")
Did you wipe out all the codes before you started?
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/8 "2008-10-22T11:47:49Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> Did you wipe out all the codes before you started?
Ah…no. And let me guess…that matters?
😃
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/9 "2008-10-22T13:28:03Z")
In addition to receiver lock, there might also be an issue with rolling codes if they are dropped. Look for a “learn” button on the opener, press it, and then hold down the remote button. That might fix the issue.
You’ll have to do this for both remotes.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-garage-door-opener/468979/10 "2008-10-22T14:52:16Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#):
>
> In addition to receiver lock, there might also be an issue with rolling codes if they are dropped. Look for a “learn” button on the opener, press it, and then hold down the remote button. That might fix the issue.
>
> You’ll have to do this for both remotes.
I’ll look for that after work, but I don’t think my 12 year old opener has one of those functions.
If you look in the second picture on the PDF of the remotes, that’s the one I have. Just a large blank button and two smaller blank ones. And on the side of the opener itself there’s just a green button, a green LED and those two funky little dial settings, which I have no idea what they are for.