I have a problem with my garage door opener.  I can open the garage
door without a problem.  When I try to close it, though, the remote
control does not work.  The garage door opener's lights blink and the
door does not move.  If I use the control built into the physical
garage, it will close the garage door, but only if I hold the
control's button down until the door is completely closed.  If I do
not do this, the garage door goes down a foot or so, then goes back
up.  I had a similar problem last year, and it was caused by spider
webs.  I have checked for webs, but there do not appear to be any. 
Any ideas?

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Clarification of Question by mnsean-ga on 01 Aug 2002 06:17 PDT

The comments have been helpful.  I took a further look at the sensors
that are posted on either side of the garage door.  I noticed that one
of them has a green light that is always on.  The other sensor's
light, however, seems to be dead.  This seems like a problem.  Any
comments, given this new information?

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Clarification of Question by mnsean-ga on 02 Aug 2002 05:51 PDT

Mission accomplished!  I went to the sensor that had no light,
unplugged its wire, cleaned it off, plugged it back in, the green
light came on, and everything works just fine.  Thanks for pointing me
in the right direction!

A misaligned electric beam that protects against accidentally closing
the door on someone ( or something ) might be the source of the
problem.  On many of the models, you can jiggle with the transmitting
unit, which has a little LED red light on it showing when there is a
returning signal. Make sure that the transmitter is properly aligned,
not loose, and not obstructed by a rope or something when the door is
open. Jiggle the transmitter so that the little LED seems to be most
stable,indicating that the transmitter is properly centered.

Good Luck!
weisstho-ga

If you have a blockage sensor installed, it may be out of alignment,
dirty or it may have gone bad and needs replacement.  The wiring may
be corroded and may need to be replaced.

If you have a blockage detector, it may have an LED indicator that
lights up when it's clear and flashes when blocked or broken.  Can you
see that LED when you trying to close the door with your remote?

Dear mnsean,

A few comments with knowledge gleaned from fixing our garage door
opener... It has open and close sensitivity controls. Your symptom of
closing a foot or so and then reopening would be explained by the
close control being set at too low a setting. ie the door starts
closing but then thinks it detects an obstruction (such as a person),
so for safety itis set to reopen.

It is conceivable that the remote may only give a one pulse close
signal, like hitting the button on the closer once.

If the above explanation is correct, there may be two different
causes:
(1) that the door truely requires more force to close (than when it
was working properly) or
(2) the sensitivity adjustment has moved.

If the former case is true... this cause should be addressed. If the
sensitivity adjustment has moved (due to spiders, corrosion, vibration
etc) - retweaking may solve your problem.

Regards,