What worked for me....

twist the top black part to remove (it's the cap for the usb charger)
press the little white 'eject' button to start a cycle, then carefully place a small screwdriver inside the throat and hold the cork in place.

The motor should drive it out.

What's likely happening is the cork broke off while opening, and there's not enough in the machine to "catch" the feature meant to stop it from rotating on extraction. Hence using the screwdriver to keep it from rotating.

EDIT: Yes you can push the black thing in to try to catch the cork and extract it...I highly recommend NOT using your finger to do this...

The black plastic ring is secured on the clear tube that you can see the corkscrew through with four little plastic snap tabs. I used a pair of channel locks to gently pull the ring off those tabs. Once you do that you have access to the inside of the clear tube and can reverse the corkscrew and get your broken cork out. Blow debris out and reassemble. Good as new! Even if you break one tab it should still hold, and if you break multiples use some super glue to hold it in place, that will be your last chance to fix it, but at least you've doubled the life of your toy. Good luck!

This is from Jen8926 in another forum and it worked for me (push up the inner sleeve an inch or more inside the main tube): Use a screwdriver (or whatever) to push the inner ring at the opening as far inside the appliance as you can. It is a black piece with a spring action that has plastic molded ridges inside. The ridges on the inner edge of this will grasp the cork. Then, while you are holding the inner section in place as far inside as possible, push the button to operate the opener and the cork should come out as it normally should. I had half a cork stuck up there, and this just worked perfectly.

ANTI-TAMPER SCREWS
If your model has anti-tamper screws, you can remove them using using a T20H Torx type or GTXH20-100 screwdriver. If the correct tool is not available, there are several ways to remove the screws:

- Use a hammer and a small punch or similar tool to knock out the middle post of the screw, then use a standard T20 Torx bit to remove the screws. (Use safety glasses).

- Insert a small flat-bladed screwdriver (such as a jeweler's type) into the slot between the post and the edge, tap the screwdriver firmly with a hammer to loosen the screw, grip the screwdriver with pliers, and remove the screw.

This detailed photo shows how a small screwdriver fits into the screw head:


- Use a hacksaw or Dremel tool to cut a slot in the head of the screw, then use a flat-bladed screwdriver to remove the screws. (Use safety glasses).

We're happy to help you with free advice and we'd appreciate your thoughtful rating of our answer.

This blower is fuel sensitive! Gas and oil mixture has to be correct. Too much oil will cause carbon buildup in the cylinder. In my case my blower would not start after several uses this season. I checked EVERYTHING....spark, fuel delivery, air filter.....then checked the flywheel which has no separate key....the key is cast into the flywheel. Read somewhere about the carbon buildup so took the cylinder off and viola! The piston ring was firmly stuck in the piston groove plus the cylinder was carbon scored. I tried to gently pry the piston ring free but it was so firmly stuck, it broke. Not worth fixing. Take the muffler off and you will be able to see the piston ring....use a small pick or something to see if the ring is free. If not, proceed to tear down or throw out. I was able to see scoring on the piston and determine my ring was stuck this way. Remember the elements needed for successful ignition...fuel/air...spark....compression. Stuck ring = low compression. The last time you ran the blower the ring became stuck...the engine continued to run because of the engine rpm's but when you try to start at low RPM's, no luck.

Use a screwdriver (or whatever) to push the inner ring at the opening as far inside the appliance as you can. It is a black piece with a spring action that has plastic molded ridges inside. The ridges on the inner edge of this will grasp the cork. Then, while you are holding the inner section in place as far inside as possible, push the button to operate the opener and the cork should come out as it normally should. I had half a cork stuck up there, and this just worked perfectly.

Use a screwdriver (or whatever) to push the inner ring at the opening as far inside the appliance as you can. It is a black piece with a spring action that has plastic molded ridges inside. The ridges on the inner edge of this will grasp the cork. Then, while you are holding the inner section in place as far inside as possible, push the button to operate the opener and the cork should come out as it normally should. I had half a cork stuck up there, and this just worked perfectly.

We had the same problem, and we took the thing apart, unscrewed the cork from the corkscrew and put it back together. You have to make sure you line everything up properly inside, though. There are contact points that need to be lined up on the inside.

Tools required: Haxalobular screwdriver (Torx or 'Star'), Strong hands/fingers, flathead screwdriver.

Possible hazards: sharp edges (metal plastic), bacteria enriched dust/dirt.

Notice the black ring/skirt near the bottom of the unit...sit on the vacuum cleaner, and pull very firmly at the ring, which will begin to click and pull upwards, rotate around the unit pulling the ring up until the whole ring comes off and you can pull it off over the top of the unit.

Now, there will be a white plastic ring revealed around the unit, using a Flat Head screwdriver to pry the ring out of the grooves it sits in (pull it off towards the bottom of the unit as opposed to the intial black ring coming off upwards).

Now take the handle of the unit and give a firm **** upwards, the whole encasement will slide off in your hand.

You will now see the spring loaded cord retracter. The problem here is that the spring has become too losely wound back onto the larger spindle, or it is dirty.

Firstly pull the entire power cord through the outer shell that you removed (you will need to unscrew and remove the black facade that the cord goes through otherwise the head of the cord wont go through).

Then take the plastic cirlce cover off the smaller spindle (carefully as the wound tin spring could pounce).

Now you need to manually turn the larger wheel clockwise until it has no coil left on it, and the smaller coil now is full.

While winding, dont let the powercord wind back onto the wheel, let it sit to the side (there will be a bit of tangle which will go back to normal when we finish winding back the other way).

Once it is fully loaded onto the smaller coil, wind it back on to the larger coil again, but make sure it's loading on 'tight'. You can ensure this by keeping some pressure on the smaller spindle while winding (be carefull because the coil edge is sharp). Once the smaller coil is basically gone and there is just a small curved end of the coil, put the small spindle back on making the curved coil wrap around it.

Wind some coil back onto the smaller spindle so there is atleast one full ring plus a small overlap, around the spindle, or it may come off. Also, make sure that where the cord is coming out of the larger spindle, is pointing towards where it goes out the back of the vacuum cleaner, so that when you pull the cable it wont wind the wheel at all, otherwise it may wind some coil off the smaller spindle.

Proceed to put the unit back together, but before putting the white and black rings back on, test the retract button. I noticed the first attempt to put it back together that the external button had not lined up with the internal mechanism and it wouldnt retract, i had to open it again.

All done, it should now retract, but it will never be as strong as the day you bought it, but atleast you dont have to have the cord hanging round. Hope this helps.