evert you really need to carefully screw the bulb in tighter... don't be afraid of it... the guy at inside sun already told me if i broke mine trying to screw it in he'd send a replacement... DO NOT kick your ballast. And unless you know what you're doin, I'd be really wary of taking the cover off. A charged capacitor of that size is VERY dangerous even if the ballast is unplugged... the charge is still there... ZZZZAP fried evertking, anyone?