Kenmore dishwasher's green flashing but machine plays dead!?

Our dishwasher Kenmore Ultrawash QuietGuard4) was working until yesterday. It is a little over a year old now.
My wife tells me that the dishes were not completely clean, the very last time, however.
Now, the soap compartment is open although the machine does not seem to have worked.
The last time this situation occurred, about 11 months ago, a technician had to be called in. I forget what exactly he did--I wasn't around when he was there. On the service order sheet he left, he wrote: "code entered -- control inactivated".
Thank you for any ideas .