sounds like its time for a new microwave.

Weed - any further insight on that?

We were hoping it's possibly something repairable...

Anyone else have any ideas?

Even if it could be repaired, it will likely cost you more than buying a new one. You've gotten 10 years out of this one - it's probably dangerous to use at this point - throw it out and get a new one.

Weissman - we have considered that, they are not that expensive. Even if we can't fix it, it would be nice to have some idea what went wrong, you know? It was running fine at 3pm, then at 7pm it stunk up the place for no apparent reason. I can't deny there is curiousity about it. Additionally, I'd like some definitive answer that it is officially dead. We haven't run it at all since we smelled the smell.

FYi, the house and microwave are 10 years old. We have not gotten 10 years of use out of it.

So moving on...it is an over the stove model. Is this as simple as mounting it and plugging it in? Is that simple? It appears there are just grease vents, not actual exhaust vents, bit I haven't checked in detail. Any thoughts?

It could well be wire insulation that started to melt. If you really want to delve into what's wrong you could check out repairclinic.com

As far as officially dead, almost anything can be repaired but the parts and labor cost would make it more expensive than a new one - and frankly once a MW starts to go, it can become dangerous.

Try unplugging & replugging the microwave. It may reset the unit. We did that with ours and it seemed to solve the problem.

Hopefully they dealt with it 7 years ago when it happened...

The advice was intended for someone who might currently be having the problem (as I was).