My 696 also gave up the ghost. After a bit of debugging and trial and error, I found my transformer died and it needs at least 28V -- using a 28V transformer produces very weak mist. From my debugging background I have a feeling the correct voltage should be around 40-48VAC that goes into the blue wires to the oscillator board, but this is just a guess, not claiming responsibility for frying the humidifier further :)