Water Softener Problem

Hello Mr. H2OMan. I just purchased a home and it had a GE Profile Water Softener system installed in the garage. After taking a good look at the system, I realized that it was unplugged and now I know why. Appearantly, the salt pellets at the bottom of the tank had completely hardened into one chunk of salt. I am afraid to plug it in or operate it as I'm afraid that I might damage the system. Any suggestions on fixing this system to get it up and running again? Any advice would gladly be appreciated.