I had to ship my player across Canada when I first received it from overseas...When I powered it up at the other end, I found I had the exact same symtoms as described above. I shook the player slightly and it rattled...soon the tell-tale broken nipple fell out of the case. Sure enough, my VFD was gone. It cost me a big dollar to get it replaced.

Sorry for the bummer news if that's what your problem turns out to be...