X-Fader suddenly stopped working!!

the crossfader on my vestax vci-100 stopped working ;(

ive tried everything .. reseting the unit, fiddling with the fader balance curve, re-seating the cable, restarting traktor and the pc..

at first the midi send light wouldnt even come on but now it seems to blink a bit and the crossfader will move a tiny amount to the left or right.. ive had it left in a cupboard since christmas.. so im wondering if it might just be condensation or something cause its been really cold here lately (at least i hope) dont spose its ever happened to anyone else?

btw all other buttons function normally

*update*

i removed the cap from the fader and blew hard into the box.. now itll move about 3/4 quarters the way left.. a little less than half to the right, thats only when the fader curve setting is set to the very lowest (doesnt work at all if i turn it less than half the way around) .. that and it keeps randomly sending midi notes after ive let go of the fader.

like i said the crossfader moves a bit now (if the the fader curve is set to its absolute minimum). if i twist the f. curve knob at the back of the unit the crossfader also moves to the left .. im stumped. the f. curve knob seems to be sending out the same note which im not sure it should be doing, my map only shows a top down view of the unit and doesnt specify that knob at the back.

its hard to imagine how it would just stop working. it was functioning perfectly the last time that i used it.

ps. ive never spilt anything on it, never dropped it, never did anything except store it away in a drawer over the holidays!

really appreciate any help here. i might dismantle it if all else fails, though im covered by a 5yr warranty.. its just a pain to have to send it back to germany over something so simple.

i took the unit apart myself and had a look around inside. couldnt spot anything obvious. i unplugged the crossfader and inspected it but that looked fine as well. i fiddled around a bit with the unit turned on and traktor loaded, i noticed simply touching the faders pcb at either end would cause the slider to fluctuate and send midi notes.. im not sure if thats normal or what but in any case i re-assembled the unit and it worked fine after that. no idea what was wrong with it exactly.. maybe just a loose wire or short.. or perhaps the fader wasnt properly grounded against the casing.. im just glad its working again! just thought id drop a line in case anyone else ever runs into a similiar issue.