My roof won't go down!

[arrallas]

Since it was the first sunny day for months yesterday, I decided to drop the roof and blow a few cobwebs away. I pressed the big button on the roof to release the catch, pressed the switch....nothing. Repeated the procedure, and the roof didn't budge, but the clamshell went up and down to the accompaniment of much clanking and groaning. On the way home, with everything apparently back in place, a warning light came on the say that my roof was not in the stop position. When I got home, I locked the car with the intention of looking things over today, but when I pressed the bleeper to lock up, I heard the lttle beep that usually means you have left a door open. Checked everything shut and went home.
Today, I went to open the car and the battery was flat as a pancake. A neighbour came over to tell me my alarm had been going off for hours last night (which presumably accounted for the flat battery).
Does anyone have any bright ideas how I should proceed with this, bearing in mind the nearest specialist or OPC is 80 miles away...

 

[colinbythesea]

When the clamshell lifts is it even both sides? If not suspect one of the drive cables. The roof and clamshell have links to a small gearbox and both operate from the same drive. They are connected with plastic pop on joints. These are prone to breaking. Lift the clamshell and have a look around. Your roof is probably not fully closed causing the alarm blip.

 

[arrallas]

After the clamshell first went up, it never moved again. Anyway, here is a footnote to my tale of woe...
It started with windows steaming up, then a roof that refused to go down. It seems that when one of the roof plastic knuckle joints snap (check under the clamshell for white fragments!), the free lever gouges through a drip tray, which allows water to flood into the passenger compartment, behind (in my case) the passenger seat. The thick insulation hold enormous amounts of water (I took out four soaking large bath towels and it is still saturated!). The problem is that the control module sits in a nicely recessed hole (yes, a well!) on the floor under the seat. A triumph of design...
I managed to get to Devon to the specialists with, at various times, the clamshell doing a little up and down dance, the windows dropping down halfway (not fun in this weather!), the reversing lights permanently on and the spoiler jammed up, not to mentions a whole catalogue of warning lights cycling through.
Crispin (at Oak Tree Garage) showed me a 986 with exactly the same problem. Another thing he mentioned was that sometimes the sealing on door panels can be a problem too, so if your has been opened up at any time, it may be worth a look too.
The moral of this seems to be "never disregard steamed-up windows in a Boxster"! There's wet getting in somewhere...