GE refrigerator error codes: the display mostly tells you about a door, a filter or a mode — not a broken part.

The compartment went warmer than it should — a door left open, a power outage, a big load of warm food — and the display flashes the temperature (some models beep) until a pad is pressed.

1. Both doors and the freezer drawer close fully and seal: a crisper drawer not pushed in, a jug on the door shelf, or a bag at the back stops a door an inch short and the fridge never knows.
2. Press any pad to clear the flashing, then check the real temperatures with a thermometer in a glass of water: 37°F in the fresh food and 0°F in the freezer after 24 hours is right.
3. The condenser coils are clear: pull the base grille at the bottom front (or pull the fridge out and look at the back) and vacuum the dust off the coils — a fridge breathes through them, and a matted coil runs warm all day.
4. The freezer fan runs when the door is held open and its switch is pressed; frost coating the back wall of the freezer means the defrost has stopped.

Clear the alert, close the doors, clean the coils and give it 24 hours. A refrigerator that stays warm with the doors sealed, the coils clean and the compressor running is a cooling fault — the condenser fan, the defrost system or the sealed system — a service call, and on a machine under warranty a warranty call. Move the food to a cooler or a neighbor's freezer while you wait.

A door or drawer has been open for a few minutes and the refrigerator is beeping, with the door icon flashing on some panels. A door that is shut and still alarms is the door switch.

1. Close every door and the freezer drawer with a firm push; look for what stopped it — a drawer not pushed home, a jug, a bag at the back.
2. The refrigerator is level front to back with a slight lean to the rear, so the doors swing shut on their own; a fridge leaning forward leaves a door ajar every time.
3. The door gasket is clean and not folded under; wipe it with warm soapy water and press it back into its channel.

Close the door and the beeping stops. A door that is shut flat and still alarms has a door switch that is not reading — on most models a magnet in the door and a sensor in the frame — a part.

Not a fault. The filter's six months are up and the display says so; water and ice keep coming on most models, slower as the filter clogs. The RFID models (XWFE, RPWFE filters) read a chip in the filter and will not dispense with a filter that has no chip.

1. The filter's model is printed on the old filter (MWF, XWFE, RPWFE and MSWF are the common GE ones) — match it exactly.
2. On an RFID model the display complains and the water stops until a matching filter is in; a generic filter without the chip is the usual cause.

Fit the new filter (turn it a quarter turn, a cup of water run through to clear the air), then press and hold Reset Filter for three seconds until the light clears. The water will sputter for the first few glasses.

Not a fault. The ice maker is turned off at the panel (or by the switch or feeler arm on the ice maker itself), and no ice will come until it is turned on.

1. The Ice Off indicator is lit on the panel, or the ice maker's own power switch (on the side of the ice maker in the freezer, on models that have one) is off, or its wire feeler arm is up.
2. A new refrigerator takes 24 hours to make its first batch after the ice maker is turned on, and the first two batches go in the trash.
3. The water line behind the fridge is open at its valve and the filter is in place — an ice maker with no water fills with nothing.

Press and hold the Ice pad for three seconds (or flip the switch, or lower the arm) and wait 24 hours. An ice maker that is on, with water and a cold freezer, that makes nothing in two days is the ice maker assembly or its water valve — a part.