Saw your post and wanted to help. First, the treadmill sensei has a pretty accurate article about proform.
http://www.treadmillsensei.com/2007/04/proform-treadmill-problem-its-true-they.html

I used to work in the fitness equipment industry and we pushed the hell out of Horizon Fitness products because people were happy with them and they rarely broke down. Actually, out of the thousands of horizon units we sold over the course of two years I think we had about 1 or two complaints about faulty equipment for couple months which is phenomenal. I can’t say the same thing of a couple other brands.

If you don’t buy a Horizon I understand, just please don’t buy a proform!