Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I have an Ariens 926PRO (model #926004) with 120v electric start which I use almost exclusively to start the machine. Today I went to start it up, and the electric starter sounds very sick, makes a much higher pitch squealing noise than usual and some other crunching type noises. Engine does not start. If I pull start, the engine starts fine. Unit was recently in the service position and I tightened up everything in the owners manual to spec with regards to controls and auger belt. Unit started by electric right after this, and that was 3-4 days ago. Now this. I have a youtube video of the problem here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQtmSkE18c

What am I looking at here? A bad starter motor? Does something else need fixing/adjustment? Help would be appreciated. I would like to try to repair this myself.