I had the dreaded "No harddisk found, contact support" again this morning. This time however the hard drive was not spinning up.

Hopefully it just means the cable had finally come completely adrift from the hard disk.

Unfortunately I can't get the front of the unit off to have a look. I have removed three of the bolts holding the front on, but the last one won't come off. The mounting post that the bolt screws into has come loose, so when I turn the screw to undo it the mounting post just spins around and therefore the bolt won't undo.

I have tried to wedge the mounting post with a few things, but I can't get a good enough grip on it to hold it in place while I unscrew the bolt. I don't have a wrench/spanner small enough to fit into the gap.

Does anyone have any suggestions ?

If it's the same problem I had, try using a needle nose plier, and lift up the faceplate a little bit, and squeeze and hold the screw that is under the faceplate. Then you should be able to turn the other screw.

I'm confused by this.

If the mounting post has come unscrewed, then the whole player face should drop off. The only difference is that the mounting post will be stuck to the face rather than stuck to the player.

The only time I'd see this being a problem is if the thread on the mounting post was stripped and it was simply turning in place rather than being unscrewed. Or perhaps you just haven't pulled off the player's volume knob yet? You should do that if you haven't.

Or perhaps you just haven't pulled off the player's volume knob yet?

Tony is spot on as ever, I finally managed to remove the front just before reading this message.