The short answer
On the Black Decker BMG microwave an oven that will not start is usually power that is not arriving rather than a control that is refusing. The BMG list is one machine in several colours, so the checks below apply across the model list. Settle one thing before anything else: whether the display is dead or lit and refusing.
What you observe
- No display, no light, no fan — Supply side: outlet, plug, breaker, or the oven's own internal protection.
- The display is lit and start does nothing — The oven is alive and refusing.
- It counts down without running — The timer function rather than a cook cycle: an easy mistake on a panel that offers both.
- It runs for a second and stops — A door interlock making and breaking, or protection cutting in.
- NEAR MISS — it runs and the food stays cold — That is a heating fault rather than a start fault, and the heating page is the right one.
Causes, most likely first on the BMG family
- Outlet, plug, cord and breaker — First on this family — the BMG list is one machine in several colours — and a dark display can have no other explanation outside the cabinet: an outlet that has lost power, a tripped protective device somewhere else in the room, or a plug that has worked loose.
- Internal protection that has already opened — Second: many ovens carry a protective device that kills everything once it has responded to a fault. The oven then appears simply dead, and the cause it responded to is still there.
- Door interlocks and locks — Third: these leave the display lit, so they belong to the other half of this page and are ruled out the moment you see the panel.
- Keypad membrane and control — Last: a failing membrane gives a lit display with some keys working and others not — a distinctive pattern, and the one genuinely common control failure on this appliance.
Check in this order, and why
- Test the outlet with something else — First: it settles the top cause in seconds, and a tripped device elsewhere in the room is easy to miss.
- Check the breaker and every protective device nearby — Second, because kitchen outlets are frequently protected from a device fitted somewhere unexpected.
- Try each key on the panel in turn — Third — if some respond and others do not, the membrane is failing and the diagnosis is done.
- Close the door firmly and try start again — Last of the free checks, and the answer whenever the display was lit all along.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the oven before touching anything beyond the cavity and the door — and then still do not open the cabinet: the high-voltage capacitor inside can hold a lethal charge long after the oven is disconnected, which makes this the one kitchen appliance that can injure you after it is switched off. Never tape, wedge or otherwise defeat a door interlock, never run the oven empty, and stop using it altogether if the door, its inner panel or its mesh is bent, cracked or burned.
Models in the BMG family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| BMG07BL | black-decker:microwave:bmg |
| BMG07WL | black-decker:microwave:bmg |
When to call a technician
Call, or replace the oven, when the outlet is proven live, the door closes firmly, no lock is set and the panel still will not accept a cycle — the remaining causes are inside a cabinet that must not be opened at home. Stop using it immediately if it died with a bang, a smell or a trip: that combination points at the high-voltage side.
Other faults covered for the BMG family
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