Clamshell won't open

[Roadman]

top was down for a couple of days on my 97 Boxster , attempted to put it up and clam opened and top moved up a couple feet then loud pop sound and stopped moving...put it back down and clam closed...checked drivers side and saw the cable had popped off the ball end and has disappeared under the top...I checked you tube vids and the forum and found a video suggesting I pop off the passenger side cable which I did the clamshell should be free to open and I can manually pull the roof up....this didn't work and the clam if down tight...more so on the drivers side ...
Of course in hindsite I should have left it up and checked what happened before putting it back down but oh no ....any thoughts on how to get the clam up? I don't think I can do much with any switches or the like as the cables are detached so kind of a moot point