Just to followup... I finally was able to contact the vendor. They said to contact Lincoln. Talking to Lincoln, they asked a bunch of questions and then referred me to a local repair shop.
The local guys do not sell welding equipment -- they are just a repair house. They took it in and did the fix. It needed to be completely stripped down and the case realigned. They found a bad crimp and found that it was mis-wired as well.
I'm rather surprised that Lincoln let this out of their factory. Clearly the tape on the box had not been tampered with and looked to be factory, so I can't say that someone tweaked it. The shipping box was not damaged either.
In any event, its back from the shop, ready to do some welding.
