Sockets for bulbs are cracked and shorting out

Why did you replace the two bulbs and sockets to begin with?

You know how when you turn on a regular light bulb and it burns out with a bright flash? What happens is that when the filament burns out, it breaks and bounces back and hits the other electrical post and basically shorts out causing that bright flash. Sometimes, when the light bulb in the microwave burned out, it shorted out, and caused the circuit-board trace to burn up. (This is not just conjecture; I've seen it.) If that's the case, then you would have to replace the main control circuit board. Unfortunately, a rather expensive repair for no lights. (Although the circuit board trace can usually be repaired by direct-soldering a wire to replace the burned trace. Sears repairmen won't do this, but an independent electronic technician could do it.

If you need further help, reach me via phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/ronald_e6b9572cebe3ad27

With microwave unplugged you may have to break the glass bulb then use needle nose pliers to grab the bulb base to twist it out. If you can't get it that way you'll have to order a new socket.

We see (and repair) this a lot. The problem is on the control panel, which we regularly repair nationwide by mail for $39.95 postpaid with a one-year guarantee.

At our Web site, you can get details of our service, plus we have a video available showing how to remove a typical over the range control panel assembly in under 5 minutes.

This light failure often occurs when a bulb goes out and the filament shorts, or when the bulbs are removed or installed without first unplugging the oven from the power line. Either can cause such a failure on the controller.

The lights can can be inoperable or stuck on or stuck in "night light" mode. Sometimes this will similarly affect the fan operation or inside light, too.

The light is the only thing that comes on when you open door. You either have a shorted door switch (Micro switch) or a shorted bulb. You have either a shorted bulb or bad socket. From my experience, it's the bulb. Just because it may seem to start to come on when you open the door, it's most likely bad. At least it not expensive.
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There must be a short in the wiring between the bulb sockets and the power supply or control board. Otherwise the short may be in the bulb sockets themselves.
I would test the connections to make sure the wires aren't loose and all solder joints are tight. If all wires look good, and bulb sockets are tight, then the problem may be faulty capacitor

You can usually find helpful exploded view diagrams and order parts by entering your full model number here.

We're happy to help you with free advice and we'd appreciate your thoughtful rating of our answer.

It aint haolgen. This is another GE piece of POO engineering.

Unplug the microwave FIRST.
Now, Make sure your stove top is cold!

There are 6 phillips head screws holding a plate that secures the stove-top light and grease trap filters on the underside of the microwave. Lay on our back on the cooking elements looking at the bottom and remove the screws. The plate should swing down on hinges in the back.

Then remove the "bulb holder" which is held inplace with another phillips head screw. You can see what it looks like: http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?model_id=5100389

You should now be able to remove the "screw-in base" of the bulb with your hand or in my case, because I was so tight, I man-handled it with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Now, go find a bulb! good luck.

First of all, always disconnect the oven from the line before you remove or install bulbs, otherwise, you can damage the control board. We repair them all the time because of this. You can find helpful exploded view diagrams and order parts by entering your full model number (without the suffix) here: http://tinyurl.com/gv383 We have critical safety & disassembly info at our site, which is linked at our listing here on FixYa: http://tinyurl.com/yzjozk

That does sound odd! On one hand, I would suspect that maybe the door is getting slammed and that vibration may be contributing to the failure. But that would be much more likely for an incandescent bulb than a fluorescent type. Which is yours? You may have a bad connection on the socket which is causing some excess heat. Does the blown bulb look funny on the ends or at the connection? Assuming you're using the bulb your manual calls for, and the socket is okay, it may be a problem on the control board. Once you've digested this reply, let me know what you find and we can take it from there.