This pattern often points to airflow rather than a dead compressor.
Start Here
Check evaporator fan sound.
Look for heavy frost on freezer back panel.
Clear food from air ducts.
Inspect damper vents.
Confirm door seals.
A useful diagnosis turns a vague complaint into a smaller technical question. This pattern often points to airflow rather than a dead compressor. For freezer cold, fridge warm, concentrate on airflow, frost control, fans, sealing and cooling. Use every working function as evidence: if one stage still behaves normally, that fact eliminates causes that would have stopped the appliance earlier in the sequence.
Observe the timing before touching anything. Note what happens immediately after Start, what changes just before the fault, and what remains normal afterward. Lights, relay clicks, water movement, motor or fan sounds, heat, vibration and error codes are useful only when tied to a point in the cycle. A fault that appears instantly is a different problem from one that appears only after the machine warms up or reaches a later stage.
Begin with the cheapest conditions to verify: check evaporator fan sound, then look for heavy frost on freezer back panel. Do not merely glance at them. Compare the actual condition with the manual, correct anything obviously wrong, and retest before moving deeper. Simple installation, maintenance and user-setting problems regularly imitate failed electrical parts.
If those checks pass, move to clear food from air ducts. Then decide whether inspect damper vents can be evaluated safely with power isolated. Choose one test that answers one question: blocked or clear, open or closed, free or jammed, intact or electrically open. If a test result would not change your next decision, the test is probably not worth doing.
Avoid melting ice with an open flame, puncturing evaporator panels, and assuming the compressor is weak. All three skip evidence and can turn a minor fault into an expensive one. After a correction, reassemble guards and connectors, restore normal settings, and reproduce the original operating conditions. A single successful start is not proof; the original symptom must stay gone through the stage that used to fail.
A Safe Step-by-Step Check
Document the exact symptom and pay special attention to check evaporator fan sound.
Remove external causes first; specifically verify look for heavy frost on freezer back panel.
With power isolated where required, inspect clear food from air ducts and then evaluate inspect damper vents only if it can be done safely.
Reassemble fully and run a controlled test under the conditions that previously caused the fault.
Common Beginner Mistakes
Melting ice with an open flame.
Puncturing evaporator panels.
Assuming the compressor is weak.
STOP AND GET HELP: If the next useful test requires exposed live mains, defeating a safety interlock, opening a sealed refrigeration circuit, disturbing gas controls, or entering a microwave high-voltage section, the diagnosis has reached the professional-service boundary.