I either fried my bulb or my ballast today. There were two things I did today that weren't very smart. I dropped the bulb inside its casing lightly on the floor; the casing absorbed most of the fall. I also plugged in my ballast without the ground being plugged in (I screw on the ground cable onto my case, and it lost contact for some reason.) This is when I noticed that my bulb didn't work. I re-screwed it in tightly and used a multimeter to check contacts and they are all good. I want to know a way I can look at my bulb to see if it's fried or not, or a way I can test to see if my ballast is working or not. Obviously I have the choice of going to a store and buying another bulb to see if that's the problem, but I want to try to solve this at home before I have to do that.
Most likely your bulb is shot. It happens. Just get another bulb and do NOT disconnect the ground on your ballast. That is a no-no.
I know it's a no no but i did'nt know know that it was disconnected. I'm going to buy a bulb this weekend and update.