Defect Hybrid GP

I had the same problem with mine, it would start then go into drying mode. I got it to work properly by smacking it around for about a week then it went back to it's lil tricks with drying mode again. After trying just about everything short of using it for target pratice, I made sure it was clean and dry then I turned it to the Medium setting, pressed the power button waited just a second for the fan to go into the meduim fan level, then I pressed the power button again holding it in before it went into the drying cycle, while I held the button, (don't release) I wadded up some tape to keep the button depressed then I put some tape over that to keep it that way. It works perfect! Note, mine never had any crackling issues to begin with, just the drying cycle thing so use this suggestion at your own risk. Good luck!

If your problem was the same as mine, then all you need to do is locate the presence of a spark in the unit (mine was sparking at the bottom of the 3rd "blade" at the very bottom of the main filter unit.  After reading that nobody else could fix the problem,  I tried numerous things (wedging paper, rubber ,plastic etc) in the bottom to try and prevent the "spark" that seemed to trigger the error.
I finally decided to go brute strength; using needle nosed pliers, I ripped out the offending blade from the bottom of the unit, folded it back against itself so the filter unit could be removed and replaced without scratching against the sides.  When I put it back in I noticed one last "spark" then viola, it began working - no "drying" indicator, just excellent air purifying!!  Good luck to you.

Ok, someone gave me one of these things not working. it seemed to be nicely built until i started messing around with the plates part. it has a screwed plate on the bottom.. which is also glued in. grr. ok, so i took an ohm meter and probed the two slots and found that there was 2.8M ohms. not knowing how this thing is designed i decided maybe there was corrosion that was allowing there to be resistance between the two also assuming that there should be inifnite resistance. anyways i proceded to carefuly cut plastic away on the bottom until there was infinite resistance(since the stupid thing was glued). great now i have infinite resistance(oops i cut through a wire that was glued down there too). popped it back in the machine and after initial startup then fanspeed drop to selected speed, it went back into drying grid mode... wtf. ok i tried this now.. i pressed the power button, waited for the initial startup speed, drop to desired speed and before it got into drying grid mode i pressed the power button and held it down. while holding it down it would not shut off, but it would not go into drying mode either.. hmm. ok let go and it shuts off. pressed it again, it goes through startup speed, then selected speed and suddenly i hear the plates crackling. O.o it stayed on about 5 seconds longer before going into drying grid mode. ok, shut it off. restarted it and when it was in desired speed before drying grid mode, i pressed and held the power button again. since it will not shut off untill you release the button it stayed in normal mode and i could hear the plates crackling fairly loudly this time. i held it like this for a good 3 minutes. i then released the button and restarted the machine and this time it went into normal mode and stayed running. the plates were still slightly crackling and making hissing noises for about another 5 minutes before it slowly went away... machine is still running properly an hour later :)
hope this helps

I was having this same issue on all 3 of my Sharper Image hybrid GPs. I found the following solution: after cleaning and rinsing all removable components normally, lightly spray with distilled water and let dry.

I also unplugged and cleaned the wires and fan blades with distilled water by wiping with a damp cloth. On one unit I had to go through this process twice. Now everything is working perfectly, and I also don't hear any crackling noise when I first turn on the units. I use the distilled water any time I clean any part of the unit.

Please note that when Sharper Image still had stores I actually replaced 2 units within the first 2 months because of this issue.

Jennifer

OMG... I seriously after 5 months of not getting it to work I just did.. Look its simple.. take off the back cover... where the fans are not present.. where the blue plate is BLOW really hard there.. and clean out where the little springs are.. And PRESTO.. **** works..