Garage Door Won't Open? Start With the Symptom

Match what you see and hear to the likely cause

Find the pattern closest to yours.

• Nothing happens at all: no opener light, no sound. Likely a power problem or, less often, a failed opener circuit board. See the power check below.
• The wall button works, the remote doesn't. Likely a remote battery, lock mode or radio interference. See the remote checks below.
• The wall control light is blinking and remotes do nothing. Likely lock or vacation mode.
• The motor hums or runs, but the door doesn't move. Could be a disconnected trolley, a locked door, a broken spring or a worn opener gear.
• The door lifts a few inches, then stops or reverses. Often a broken spring. Treat it as one until a technician says otherwise.
• You heard a loud bang, and now the door won't budge. Very likely a broken torsion spring.
• The door is crooked, a cable is hanging, or rollers are out of the track. Leave it alone and call a technician.
• The door opens, but won't close. That's usually the safety sensors, not the door. See the section on closing.

Checks that are safe for anyone

These need no tools and don't involve any part under spring tension.

Is the opener getting power?

Look for any sign of life: the opener's light, a small LED on the motor unit, or a light on the wall button. Chamberlain, which makes LiftMaster and Chamberlain openers, walks through this in its no power troubleshooting article:

1. If any light or LED is on, the opener has power. Move on to the next checks.
2. If nothing lights up, test the outlet. Unplug the opener and plug in something you know works, like a lamp or a phone charger.
3. If that doesn't work either, check the breaker panel, and check whether the outlet is controlled by a wall switch. If the outlet is a GFCI type with test and reset buttons, or shares a circuit with one elsewhere in the garage, see whether it has tripped.
4. If the outlet has power but the opener still shows no lights and does nothing, Chamberlain says the opener is not distributing power internally and points to the logic board, the opener's main circuit board. That's a job for an opener repair visit.

If the power is out across the house, the opener won't work unless it has a battery backup. Use the steps in how to open a garage door manually.

Remote works from the wall only

If the wall button opens the door but a remote doesn't, the door and springs are probably fine. Chamberlain's remote troubleshooting article lists the usual causes:

• A weak or dead remote battery. Replace it, check it's the right way round, and look for corrosion on the contacts.
• Lock mode, also called vacation mode, is on. When it's enabled the opener ignores remotes, and on many Chamberlain models the opener lights flash twice when you press a remote. Press and hold the lock button on the wall control until the indicator stops flashing. Genie calls the same feature Sure-Lock or vacation lock, and its troubleshooting page lists turning it off as the first thing to try.
• The remote lost its programming. If someone held the opener's learn button too long, the memory may have been cleared and remotes need reprogramming. Your opener manual has the steps.
• Interference. The industry's remote control troubleshooting guide, DASMA TDS 374, notes that some LED and compact fluorescent bulbs near the opener can interfere with the radio receiver. Try the remote with those bulbs switched off or removed.

Try a second remote or the outside keypad too. If only one remote fails, the problem is that remote.

Is the door locked by hand?

Many sectional doors have a slide bolt or a locking handle on the inside that drops into a slot in the track. If it's engaged, the opener will strain against a door that can't move. Chamberlain's article on an opener that hums but the door doesn't move lists an activated door lock as one cause. Slide the lock open and try again. DASMA TDS 167 recommends that manual locks be disabled once an electric opener is installed, so if you use the lock only during outages, make a habit of opening it again afterward.

Has the trolley been disconnected?

If someone pulled the red emergency release cord, the motor will run but the door stays put because the trolley is no longer attached to the door. Chamberlain lists this as another cause of a humming opener and says to use the emergency release handle to reconnect the door. Do it with the door closed. The full steps, including the differences between rail types, are in how to open a garage door manually.

Signs to leave to a technician

If the simple checks don't explain it, the cause is likely mechanical.

A broken spring

The springs do the heavy lifting, not the opener. When one breaks, the opener often can't lift the door, or lifts it a few inches and gives up. Chamberlain says a brief hum with no movement can mean the springs are broken and to contact a trained door technician. Other signs:

• A loud bang from the garage, often when no one was using the door
• A visible gap in the coils of the spring on the shaft above the door
• The door feels extremely heavy if it has been released from the opener

Don't keep pressing the button. Running the opener against a door with a broken spring strains the opener and can pull the door out of line. Read garage door spring repair for what the repair involves and why DIY spring repair is a bad idea.

A snapped or loose cable

Lift cables run from the bottom corners of the door up to drums on the spring shaft. A snapped or slipped cable usually leaves the door crooked, higher on one side, or a cable dangling beside the track. The industry's homeowner damage checklist, DASMA TDS 174, tells you to look for loose cables but not to touch or adjust the springs or anything they're fastened to, including cables and brackets. See cable and roller repair.

The door is off its track

Rollers that have popped out of the track, a door hanging at an angle, or a track that's visibly bent all fall here. DASMA TDS 174 says any deformation of panels, tracks or hardware makes a door questionable to operate and a professional should be contacted. Don't force it with the opener. See garage door off track.

Opener faults inside the motor unit

Chamberlain's humming opener article also lists a stripped drive gear or rack, a failed capacitor and a faulty logic board. These involve opening the motor housing near mains voltage, so let a technician diagnose them. See garage door opener repair.

If it opens but won't close

A door that opens fine but won't go back down is almost always a safety sensor issue. Federal rules require residential openers to have entrapment protection, and the photo eyes that provide it are mounted near the floor on each side of the door. DASMA's opener FAQ, TDS 369, says they should never be installed higher than six inches off the floor.

Chamberlain explains in its article on lights flashing when the door won't close that the opener lights flash 10 times when there's a sensor problem. Check for something blocking the beam, wipe the lenses, and make sure both sensor lights glow steadily. On older models you could close the door by holding the wall button down, but Chamberlain says openers and replacement logic boards made after February 3, 2022 no longer have that feature. Garage door sensor repair covers alignment and wiring faults.

What to do in the meantime

• If the springs look intact and the door is closed, you can usually open it by hand using the emergency release. Follow the manual opening steps and stop if the door feels very heavy.
• If you suspect a broken spring or cable, leave the door where it is, keep everyone clear, and don't pull the release on a door that's open. If a car is stuck inside, see emergency garage door repair.
• Secure the garage. A door released from its opener can be lifted from outside, so use the side lock if you have one, or lock the door between the house and garage.

What to tell a technician

A clear description saves time and helps the technician bring the right parts:

• Whether the door is currently open, closed or stuck partway
• What you heard (a bang, a hum, grinding, clicking) and when
• Whether the opener lights or wall control light are flashing, and how many times
• The opener brand and, if you can see it, the model number on the motor unit
• Whether a car is trapped inside

Ask for the diagnosis and an itemized price before any work starts. If you're told the whole door or opener needs replacing, it's reasonable to ask why a repair won't do and to get a second opinion. Our guides to choosing a technician and common garage door repair scams explain what a fair quote looks like.