Had the same problem here just flashing light, wiggled the top (switch) with old CE2 gently pulling until out of tube. On inspection could not find any sign of shorting all wires were in place, so decided all was in vain and pushed it back together partly then tapped the flaming thing fully back in place (quite hard) until fully seated...I pressed the damn button and its working!!!.
So I guess the problem is at the rheostat end and the hard knocks must have shifted the short, it has been working without a problem since so it seems as if a few hard bangs on twists head do the trick.
Hope this works for others
