On mine, you can leave the door open, keep your feet back, (if standing outside), and touch the brown magnetic switch near the door frame with a magnet or magnetic screwdriver in several locations to see if you can get trigger a step movement. We have had some mysterious changes that seem to be because the magnet mounted on the screen door is a little too far away when it comes closed sometimes.
There is also a separate circuit that is designed to pull in the steps when the ignition is turned on. It is activated by a separate wire, so if the steps are out, that's a good one to check and see if the motor is working, too. BTW, on mine the magnetic switch is the equivalent of a doorbell button, just a momentary touch of the two wires on that switch would trigger a change of position on the steps.