The other night I noticed my Fiberstars 6004as illuminator smoking. This smoke had a smell of electrical objects being burned. Once I saw this I turned it off waited about 1/2 an hour and turned it back on and it worked. The next day I took the top enclosure off and look for any possible damage and discovered that a silver metal flask looking object had black foamy crud uzing out of it. I figure this was the problem. I emailed Fiberstars to see if I could get a replacement part to fix the unit and they told me that the whole unit would have to be replaced. They made no mention of their warrantee. The tech person indicated that UL required that they had to replace these parts and I guess they do not do this since they told me the unit had to be replaced. The Tech person indicated that the part I was needing was a ballast and igniter. I have done research and can buy Metal Halide Ballast and igniters for around 50 dollars. Has anyone had a similar problem and how did you handle it??? If I have to purchase a new unit why would I not try some other make that may last longer???