Samsung RSG257AARS Not making Ice, needs board reset?

[KevH]

Samsung RSG257AARS refrigerator. It stopped making ice a few days ago. The ice cube trays have frozen water in them. They do not seem overly full, like its a problem of too much water. It appears the ice maker is not pushing the existing cubes out. I warmed it with hairdryer then pressed the reset button and it went through one cycle of pushing the cubes out and refilling with water. So it put the cover back one and left it alone overnight. I had the same issue the next morning, frozen cubes in the tray that seems to be unable to push them free. 

This refrigerator is in a house I am renting, the landlord called a repairman, but the repairman said that they would need to reset the board for $300 , and the fridge would need to be off for 48 hours to finish the reset.  Does the reset they are proposing actually fix the problem?   I did not have them reset it becuase I have nowhere to put my food, and the $300 charge.  The landlord as well as myself are skeptical of this fixing it.

[ABA Tech]

Not sure what the repairman meant by "resetting the board". The only "reset" I'm aware of is unplugging the unit for a couple of minutes and then plugging it back in, and that wouldn't fix the issues you're having. It sounds like your ice maker may not think it's cold enough to start a harvest. Start by cleaning your condenser, if it's all dusty and dirty your compressor will have to work really hard to cool that freezer down. 

 

Your ice maker will have a white arm on the front of it, this needs to be able to move freely for the ice maker to be able to cycle. Make sure it sits right, I've had it where that arm has somehow gotten misplaced and wasn't able to move all the way back up. 

[Vance R]

Need to know freezer temp. Then check for error codes. Push the Power Freeze and Lighting buttons at same time and hold for 8 to 12 seconds and let go of buttons. Let us know which segments are blinking. After a few minutes the refrig will resume normal operation.

[KevH]

Based on my research I think the condensor is behind a panel in the freezer section.  I was not able to clean it yet, but I wonder if it would even be dirty in there?  Should I inspect it anyway?  I Pushed the Power Freeze and Lighting buttons and got no blinking segments, just all segments solid but one.

https://imgur.com/a/DWS7dJ5

[KevH]

Also what temperature  does the ice maker need to think it is to start the harvest?   I have temperature gun i could measure it with and report back.

[Vance R]

Condenser is in the machine compartment with the compressor.  Unless that segment is burnt out we will go with the freezer fan error of not turning target speed.  May want to pull freezer evap cover and make sure fan is not iced up. Freezer temp should be 0 deg f to make ice.  If you have a volt meter need a few voltage readings, these will all be DC volts. All on the main board, connector are labelled in small print. CN90 pin 3 (wht)to CN50 pin 5 (gry). Next ones are all with 1 probe on CN40 pin 4 (gry), need voltages from pins 5 (yel), 6 (blu), 9 (blk), 11 ( prp).

[Bart56]

I have one of these fridges and the same thing happens to mine. Often. But two different causes showed up.

Since your ice tray is full, I suspect the ice maker motor is shot or you have a broken wire causing the motor not to run. The water fill is the last step in the ice making cycle, so it completed an entire cycle but won't start another because it thinks the water didn't freeze yet pointing to the temp sensor on the tray or, as others point out, the freezer is not cold enough.

In my case, When the cube trays were empty and no ice was being made, I held the ice maker reset button until it dinged and then watched the cycle. After about 3 minutes or so, the eject fingers are pointing straight up and no ice was ejected because it never filled the tray. As the fingers continue to rotate down, the "Ice Full" sensing arm starts to drop but never fully drops, so the logic thinks the ice bucket is full.  To fix this, I would normally "help the arm down" manually then let it rise as the fingers come to rest.  It then fills the tray with water.

Once, I felt a crunch and realized that condensation frost was forming inside the ice maker housing. If I broke it up because it was small, fine, but when I couldn't, I remove the ice maker part way, pop off the plastic housing cover and knock out the rogue ice chunk. Works like a charm!  

The other issue was a broken wire which comes down from the top hinge. The one wire that broke was down in the door about an inch. I was able to strip the wire using a scalpel down in the hole. I then formes a heat shield tube to sick down the hole. I tinned the stripped wire and made a little hook at the end of it. I then took a new piece of wire, tinned and also with a u-bend hook on it and "hooked the two together, then soldered it right there in the hole.

Now there was no room to twist the two together for a good mechanical bond, so I used hot-melt glue as my insulator and bonding method. I then soldered the other end to the harness wire at the top of the fridge. This fix has lasted 3 years so far. I'm hoping any new breaks are closer to the top of the hole.  My back-up plan was to run a new wire by snaking it between the insulation foam and the plastic shell, but that's going to involve drilling a few strategically places holes in the plastic and will be a "last resort" type of fix.

Check for ice build-up in the ice maker or remove the hinge plate on top of the freezer to probe for broken wires by lightly pulling on each individual wire.

 

Good Luck!