This is a variation on the old "negative polarity" answer that washing machine service centers used to use. When someone called to say that his or her machine was not working, the service representative would say "Have you checked to see whether you have negative polarity? Unplug the machine and then plug it in again and see whether that works." At which point the customer would discover, when going to see whether there was negative polarity, that the machine wasn't plugged in at all. Problem solved.