Rear Trunk Lid Won't Open

[MaizeNBlueBoxster]

I have a problem with the rear trunk lid of my 2001 Boxster S. Neither the key fob nor the buttons in the cockpit will open the read trunk lid. I was able to open it manually using the manual release behind the driver's side rear wheel in the tail light housing. This was fairly easy to access by jacking up the car and removing the rear wheel and taking off one nut and gently pulling back the plastic cover in the wheel well and exposing the space behind the tail light. The manual release cable was there. (You can see it with a flashlight and grab it with a hanger). It is a wire with a loop on the end. It was not connected to anything and I'm not sure if it is supposed to be attached to something and is part of the linkage for normal operation. That's my first question.

I exposed it in the wheel well for future use so I don't have to remove the wheel to get into the trunk. A temporary solution until I fix the problem. I want to get this taken care of soon as I have read that these manual release cables can break too and then you're really stuck.

When I depress the key fob or buttons I hear the normal sound of the motor actuating, but there is no pop releasing the trunk lid. Does anyone know if this is a linkage problem or if something else needs to be replaced.

Thanks,
Joe