I have a Kitchen Aid dishwasher. Is it possible the lock got activated accidentally? Locking is usually undone by pressing the 'air dry' or 'heated dry' button in for about 5 seconds. Try that and see if your lock light goes out. It may depend on your model as mine is older now. Good luck.

Nope, I just tried it, but thanks anyways. It's only me in this house, so things usually don't get hit by accident. I also checked to make sure that the rack goes all the way back and that there are no obstructions.

Kill the power for a while -- 10 mins or so -- by unplugging the unit or flipping the breaker. Restore power, check if it works.

There are nine engineering revisions on this unit (a number 0 through 8 should be the last digit of the model number). I picked one at random for the online manual. It indicates a separate Control Lock key.

If power cycling doesn't work, and the Control Lock key doesn't work, then you may have a bad control panel. They do go wonky fairly frequently but usually not so soon.

Thanks, dadoes, I will try it. I had turned it off earlier, maybe not long enough. Can I assume that if that doesn't work, I need to call someone in?

BTW, I purchased my washing machine and dryer based on your recommendations for Fischer and Paykal, 10 years ago, have never needed to call for service.

SandyInVA,

Assuming you haven't yet done so, at 10 years, I strongly suggest you have a look-see at your washer's pump for evidence of leaking (rusting, mineral deposits on it). That's one of the few weak spots on F&P. A pump wet from leaking can short-out and kill the motherboard. Doesn't have to be a large leak to puddle on the floor, just a slight dribble that gets and keeps the pump wet will do it. Much better to catch and replace a bad pump before it destroys the board. :-)

Problem resolved. I started touching various controls, and I think, I am not sure, I touched the control lock for an extended few seconds, and the lights returned, and all seems to be working again.

Many thanks for the input, it is so good to know that you all are out there when these things happen.:>)

Control Lock must be pressed/held 3 to 4 seconds to enable & disable.

Same thing happened to my sister last week, same model KA DW. She held the Control Lock a few seconds, and all was good.

Wow! almost to the day, it happened again, one year later! Played around touching various controls, touching the control lock for an extended time did not fix it immediately. but something at some point did.

Thank you!!! Just happened to me, I just restarted the breakers and held the control lock for a wee bit longer then 3 sec...ITS WORKING NOW :)

Thank you!!! I had the same problem and thank your advices now it's working!!!! Internet is great!!

I have a Kitchenaid model #KDTE504DSS0, the control lock blinks when any key is touched. I have shut off the power. I don't have a control lock button. There are 15 buttons. Any suggestions???

Good luck. Mine totally died earlier this month. No blinking lights no nothing except a tub of half drained water, which I have had to absorb with towels b/c it began to smell. Can't get service people scheduled from place of purchase as they are accepting appts for next week.

I have decided what's the point of a stainless steel interior when nothing else holds up?

I just googled this problem and landed on this page. I have held the control lock forever and it doesn't work. I turned off the breaker for a few seconds and that didn't help either. :(

I think we are all talking about the same "place of purchase" that begins with an S and they always schedule appts. at least a week out and often longer. I stopped calling them and usually call a local appliance repair company when I need a repair.

Mine actually was local. And to this day, I still have a broken dishwasher. My fault; things became busier at school as the end of the year approached, and leaving work became more difficult. Then I decided to teach summer school and am currently on Vacation 500 miles away. I will try your remedy when I return home next week to see if this appliance can be resurrected. BTW, I called the place that begins with a an "S" to inquire what they would charge to change the light bulb in my over the range convection microwave oven. Would you believe "a flat fee of $249?" I said "to change a freaking lightbulb?! " "No thanks, I will replace the it and not from a place that starts with an "S"."

Yes, unfortunately I believe it. It's ridiculous.

It's called the "you might as well buy a new appliance plan."

I probably would not blame "S". This is exactly what flat fee means. If one has a $500 problem, it is still $249, and the difference is offset by the jobs like changing a bulb. :-) if you were that person, would you be smiling now? Besides, it is still free and not so hard to walk away from changing a bulb for $249 deal. So it is pretty fair I guess.

Today my control lock light came on and of course the dishwasher would not work. I pressed the energy saver dry for several seconds as instructed in manual n per call to kitchenaide. This did not resolve lock out. Turned breaker off for a few minutes then turned breaker on n tried again still locked out. Read these comments. Then Pressed the 4 hour delay for a bit..nothing..randomly pressed a few other buttons..then pressed energy saver dryer as I continued to press energy saver for extended time - the control light went off as I was pressing. Now I am washing dishes.

I think the combination maybe. Press hour delay for a few seconds then press energy saver dry button until control lock light turns off . That is what I will try next time on my KUDS01IL Kitchen Aid dishwasher. Thx anitacz711 for the hour delay tip. I intend to look at pump for leak etc as suggested just incase the light went off for a real reason.

Thank you.holding the control lock in for 5 secs now I am washing dishes

Now I need to figure out how to change hidden light in kitchen aide superba convention microwave. Anyone have suggestions

Had the same problem, and went to the owner's manual. It's working now... Check out this site: https://www.kitchenaid.com/digitalassets/KDFE454CSS/Use%20and%20Care_EN.pdf

Had the same problem with blinking lights and the control button being locked. After trying to reset the machine with the power off (which didn't work) I held the 4-hour delay for 5 seconds and it reset the control panel. All is working now.

Same problem but I didn't have a control lock button. Tried the 4 hour delay suggestion and worked for me

Does anyone ever feel like we are at the mercy of the computers and their programmers? Recently I got an error msg on my dishwasher "water tap" Honestly what kind of language is that and what does that mean. Water Tap, had to go on line to figure out maybe I should clean the filter which wasn't all that dirty but it fixed the "water tap" error.

Funny.

Inga

This is my sister's house and they are away. Just loaded it up with dishes and discovered the blinking Control Locked light. Mead through all these comments and tried several. Holding the Delay Start was the trick!! Dishes are now getting cleaned and I'm having my coffee at 6 am.

Thank you for this website. Dishwasher is a little more than 2 yrs old. As mentioned, tried circuit breaker turned off then on, followed by holding control lock button for few seconds and power resumed and dishwasher started. It saved us time, service fee, and aggravation of dealing with a problem we didn't have. New owner manuals are almost nonexistent, so Thank you!

Holding the 4-hour delay button worked for me!

None of this worked for me. I held down the "ProScrub Upper" button for awhile and that did the trick.

This is a design flaw. Who needs 15 computerized options for a dishwasher other than an out-of-control engineer wanting to make a fancier toy? (a "ProScrub Upper" option?) Google became a dominant force by keeping it simple. I'm waiting for appliance manufacturers to realize this.

This fixed it for me after trying all of the above - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJnzzXJcOV4. Basically you press Hi Temp Scrub and release and then press Energy Saver Dry and realease (or similar name). Do this in sucession five times (alternating between the two). Let it run through all its diagnostics which will take a couple minutes. When done, press the Cancel button once, and it will run through the final diagnostic. After about two minutes it should be ready to go. What this does, is reboot the computer.

I just solved this same problem with a 4 day old Kitchen aid dishwasher # kdte104ess. My control lock was blinking yesterday but I didn't bother with it but today when I went to start it it wouldn't work. after reading the comments I held the control lock button for 5 seconds and it went off to allow me to start the dishwasher. Thanks for all the suggestions. Apparently Kitchen Aid still has this same problem after all these years...

Thank you, fellow dishwasher owners! While I'm not sure that I could replicate what I just did, it did involve turning off the power to the dishwasher; pushing the start/resume and cancel buttons; and then holding the Control Locked light/button for 5+ seconds. Couldn't have done it without your collective experience!

Same problem. My dishwasher is new--2017 model KDTM404EBS2. Spent hours and much frustration googling for a solution and tried every single suggestion. Ultimately found the answer from a my.justanswer technician. For this model, you need to hold the Proscrub upper button for several seconds and the control lock should be off after that.

This just happened to us about 60 days after installing the new dishwasher. I left the power off while we went to the gym (about an hour) but when I turned the appliance back on the control lock still flashed.

The Solution: I tried pressing the button on different angles. I must have hit it just right, the screen started to count down 3..2..1.. unlocked.

A bit frustrating. Same thing happened here. I recall it happening many years ago, and that some crazy combination, etc., worked. I tried all combos listed above, finally just held the cancel button for what seemed like 20 or so seconds and all lights returned ... now washing dishes. Thanks all!

Same issue here... new KitchenAid dishwasher. I had the same 'locked' indicator no matter which button I tried. It flashed 3 times, and nothing... I called the 800 number and they suggested I flip the circuit breaker... wait a few minutes, and try again... Still same error. They were going to send service in about 1 week. I read this blog, and noticed others pushing and holding down each of the buttons. I did that... the first two just caused it to blink 3 times again... I tried the "Top Rack" button (holding down about 3-5 seconds), and the locked indicator went away. Tried to start the dishwasher, and it STARTED!! Thanks for putting this blog out there. Cancelling service as I'm typing this.

Today I replaced the dish liquid dispenser for the second time. Somehow the lock button started flashing when pressed for 3-seconds it just stayed lite. I turned off the breaker for 30 seconds came back in house starting pushing buttons it started working again before only the lock light would respond. This was a KUDE48FXSS. Top touch controls.

I first tried pushing various buttons including the lock button and the 4-hour delay button and all buttons but they all only made the lock button flash thats when I flipped the breaker off and it worked, saving me a service fee and from giving someone easy money.

holding control lock and heated dry at he same time worked for me