HELP! - HID broken or not? (yes, another one)

2005 prius - 40k miles on it. has the platinum warranty from toyota.


driver side HID is acting funny...
when i turn on the light, it's dimm, (both high / low beam) then it turn itself off in about 10-15 sec.
i turn off the light, and back on...same deal....
if i just leave it, the light wil *not* turn back on.



took it to dealership, they want to charge me $122 up front for diagnose fees....i walked out...
(they said if it was the bulb, it's not covered under the warranty, but if it's anything else, it should be, but they can't determine that until they check it out. if indeed it's something else, the $122 will be refunded)


we tried to switch the light bulbs around, but the encasing is just too tight for my fat hands

any suggestions?

thanks.