Al, you are my hero! But I swear, I had already tried what you said, but because you said to do it, I gave it one last shot. I took the lid off the pump basket, inspected the o ring, it looked brand new, took it off, wiped around the lid rim, put the o ring back on, filled up the pot as much as I could, hurriedly put the lid on, and started it up. It worked!

Now, tell me why it would suddenly stop working? Should I just replace the o ring (5 month old pump, o ring looks brand new), or should I be lubricating it each time I open the pump pot? I only open it every couple of weeks or so, to clean it out, usually there's not much in there but a couple of small bugs.