Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus for operating an electronic lamp from an AC line (10) and has a rectifier circuit (12), a power coupling circuit (18), a starting circuit (22), a resonant circuit (24), a feedback circuit (26), a driving circuit (28), and an output coupling circuit (30). The rectifier circuit (12) is connected to the AC line (10) and has a positive output terminal (14) and a negative output terminal (16) for providing DC operating power. The power coupling circuit (18) is connected to the DC operating power and provides power to a drive node (20. The starting circuit (22) provides a starting pulse which starts the feedback circuit (26) and the driving circuit (28) into oscillation. The resonant circuit (24) is connected to the drive node (20) and has a resonant node (32) for providing output power to the electronic lamp (40).