the lights are probably indicating a code. Maybe an open thermistor so it can't tell if its heating or open element. Does it begin to heat in the time it runs?

I can't recall how to extract codes off the top of my head. Sounds like a thermistor error though. I'll dig up a manual tomorrow.

A stuck button on these would not be uncommon. Try screwing with the dryness level button (or all of the buttons for that matter) by pressing them a bunch of times and see if anything changes when you try to start it.

Does it have any history of waking itself up or random beeping when you are not using it? That's pretty standard stuck button behavior.

If I remember right you press start and cancel together to get the last code? Or maybe that's for their washers only. I'll try to remember to look at a manual while I am at work tomorrow and have better access to manuals.

The whole counting the flashing lights thing is a pain in the neck and I have been misled many times by reading the codes incorrectly.