Oh my. What is a passionate rose lover like you doing in that glacial hell hole? Reading about your endeavors has exhausted me and I haven't even lifted a shovel. I admire your grit and determination, but would love to see you rewarded with thousands of blooms on your rose bushes for all your hard work. I bet they could use engineers in zones 7 to 10!

Hi jean001, If your machine is still slow, when you get time post a Hijackthis log and I will look at it for you. It could prove to be very beneficial here are instructions, Click Here to download HJTInstall.exe Download the one on the left Version 2.0.3 (Beta) Save HJTInstall.exe to your desktop. Doubleclick on the HJTInstall.exe icon on your desktop. By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Click on Install. It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop. Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad. Click on "Edit > Select All" then click on "Edit > Copy" and Paste the entire contents of the log into your next post. DO NOT use the AnalyzeThis button, its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted. DO NOT have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what HJT lists will be harmless or even required by your Operating System.

Sorry for not getting back here; I've been ill. I doubt that I need to see technical info, because the fact that so many DIFFERENT light patterns come on when I turn on the cycle indicates to me that it's probably the control board (as Richard says) rather than a mechanical problem. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see the manual.... I imagine that replacing the control board would probably be cost-prohibitive, as Richard also says. Nevertheless, since we believe that the best thing we can do environmentally is to avoid buying things, we really hate to throw out a dishwasher that is in most respects perfectly functional. So we've spent a fair amount of time trying to solve this problem. My husband came up with a solution that really helps. I don't understand the principles behind it (he does), but I'll put it here so that others can benefit if this happens to anyone else. If I quickly push the on/off button partway down, release it, and then immediately push it fully, there's a greatly increased chance that the machine will come up functional. This has to be a VERY quick action--a partial light push, followed extremely quickly by a full push. If you push the first time fully, then the second push will turn OFF the machine instead of on, which is very frustrating, especially when you've hit the jackpot and actually turned on the machine! Using this method, I can usually get it to start within the first five attempts. Pushing the on button normally, it has gotten to the point that the dishwasher won't start even in 100 attempts. My son once counted 200 tries before giving up. If NO lights come on, opening and closing the door usually fixes that. I will repeat what I said earlier, for the benefit of other crazy people like us: If only one CYCLE light is on, the dishwasher will run, even if other lights are flashing. I just have to hold down the "start" button down for about three seconds until the other lights stop flashing, then the dishwasher works normally and I can switch to the cycle that I actually want to use. What I really hate is when I accidentally open the machine during a cycle, because then it won't re-start the cycle when the door is closed, but I have to re-run the whole load. My husband is still thinking of calling Miele and replacing the control board, but I'm afraid that would be extremely expensive.

At this point, I wouldn't start swapping zones right now - it may just add more confusion. As far as relocating, the sensors can be sensitive to RF interference and, although they shouldn't be, temperature changes on the wall. But first, if you have the installation/service manual - not the owners manual - you can see if zone-4, or all the zones, are "supervised alarm zones/circuits." When I mentioned it may contain a resistor (end of line), it is because of supervised circuits. Supervised circuits, in simple terms, the alarm control panel is acting in a tri-state mode. It it always looking to see a certain resistance across the circuit; let's just say 1k, it's a NC circuit, and the resistor is in series. A cut of the wiring triggers a high resistance error and sets the alarm mode. Somebody who places a jumper across the wiring, triggers a low resistance error and sets the alarm mode as well. The resistor value that must be used will be listed in the installation manual. Since ambient temperature affects resistor values, placement on a wall heated by the sun could cause enough change on a high tolerance resistor to cause an error - but that's just in theory and there's usually enough tolerance in the system, but it could happen. A simple test to help determine sensor, wiring, or controller fault would be to first determine if this is a supervised circuit and it's resistance value. Disconnect zone-4 wiring, at the controller, and either jumper with the appropriate resistor (or just a short wire if non-supervised) and disable all zones but 4. Let it run for a couple weeks and see what happens. Just kind of flowchart logic from there. But actually, I also have another thought here. You mentioned zone-4 is master bedroom and home office, so I'm thinking a PC in the home office... maybe a UPS power supply? Maybe one with an "auto test feature?" I even had an APC unit that by default ran an auto test mode "about every two weeks" - now with the full cycling of the UPS, and it's temperature changes, that could possibly trigger an IR detector... just a thought.