ok, I have an ask 970 that i retrofitted with the old 10.6" from johnzo. at first i was having a heat problem but i got that figured out and it was working perfectly for like 2 months. then, yesterday, flipped the switch and nothing. no fans, no ballast, no LCD. i check and rechecked and none of the wires came loose. 12v switch still going to the ballast. top of the casing is on snugly to press the case button.

since nothing is turning on at all it's nothing to do with the LCD. i don't think it's the ballast because there hasn't been any flickering and there was no popping or smoke (comparing to when jon's ballast blew) so i don't think the ballast is dead. obviously can't be a heat problem because it won't start at all. i know it's not the outlet because i tested it.

it never just shut off unexpectedly or anything, but maybe it's the fuse?

Well mine simply blew the fuse and wouldn't start.

Then when I kept adding larger fuses the ballast finally started it's smoke and popin show.

My guess would be that if the fuse blew then the ballast is shorted out internally like mine was

i just pulled out the fuse and it did blow so that's not what i was hoping to hear...... i'm gonna go buy a new fuse tonite and hope for the best. if worst comes to worst, i guess i can take my dp9100 ballast and try to switch it in. thanks for the info.

now when i turn it on, the fans kick in initially, then a sound that sounds kind of like arcing, then the whole thing kicks off, then that sound, etc. i'm guessing i have a bad ballast. would a bad ballast induce a blown bulb? the bulb i had in there just blew but it was old so it may just be coincidence.

if i put in a new bulb, am i gonna waste a $50 bulb trying to figure out the problem?

So when you turn it on now it doesn't blow the fuse?

Is there a lamp in it when you hear the arcing?

If no to both I think you will be fine putting in a new bulb. Maybe the fuse was just old?

no, the fuse hasn't blown. i'm not sure wut's going on. i put in a new bulb. i plugged it in and the fans kick in, the ballast fires and the bulb lights for a half a second, then shuts off, then fires for a half a second, then shuts off. this just repeats, i would assume endlessly. wut the heck is going on?

Your ignitor went bad I think. I had one do the same thing.

Switch it out for the Proxima 9100. I did that and it worked perfectly.

makes sense to me. now that i think about it, i think my ignitor may have been overheating at one point. ok, so i'm trying to do the rewiring. i had to cut the freakin heads off the nails holding in the ignitor but i got it out. there are three wires going into the ask ignitor and only two into the 9100. the ask has a grey, brown, and blue. the 9100 has only a black and white. is the third wire a ground, and if so, do i need to worry about it? and, what do I wire to the 9100 ignitor?

I think if I remember correctly you just wire up the brown and blue. But trace the Proxima wires back to the ballast and it will be marked which are the hot and common. Use those two and don't use the ground.

Now that I think about it I'm almost 100% sure it is the brown/blue.

well, tried to switch the ignitor but couldn't get it to work. so, i just took out the old ballast and put in my dp9100 ballast instead. works fine, but now i think either my LCD or controller is dead. woo-freakin-hoo