'98 SL500 Soft top won't go up!

[blueoval56]

This is my first MB and my first time in any forum so I hope I get this right! I just bought a beautiful, low mileage (50K), two owner, complete records, 1998 SL500 from a private party. This car has always been serviced by MB. During the "walkthru", after we had removed the hardtop, the soft top would not go up, of course "that's the first time that's ever happened." The owner took the car into the MB dealer the next day where he always had the car serviced. Soon (1/2 hour labor no parts) they had the soft top working fine. According to the MB invoice, the tech found the rear "top latches out of sync" He "manually released the rear top latches and reset the complete top". The top functioned perfectly and we completed the sale. Fast forward two months and the weather is getting real nice so I remove the hard top and ............that's right, the soft top will not go up! I've ordered the MB DVR repair manual but it's not here yet so I'm flying blind. I looked through the owners manual and checked the fluid reservoir under the spare tire and it's filled to spec with no sign of leaking. I then released the soft top cover manually to get a better look at the components. I found one of the two rear top latches in the up position and the other in the down position. It seems as though something is happening during the hard top removal that is causing the rear top latches to get out of sync. How do you "manually release the rear top latches?" Secondly, does anyone out there have any idea what is causing the rear top latches to get out of sync in the first place? and finally, where is the soft top controller located?
Thanks in advance for any help the membership can provide.