Usually if you press the bell once then press the plus button and the numer should start from zero. Just use the plus or minus to set amount of minutes and then just leave alone. Alarm should sound after set minutes.
To turn off alarm just press the bell button.
This is how my cooker works anyway.
Hope it helps.
thanks boyo, i can set the timer, but i can't do it where it comes on when i''m out and then cooks for a while before turning off. D'ya know what i mean?