Release the bottom end of the ribbon leading to the control panel.

Now lift off the entire top cover. At the bottom left front you will need to ease it over the card reader assembly.

The cover open linkage remains attached to the top cover. You can now gain full access to it if it's still causing trouble.

The root cause of the problem seems to be that the vertical section of the linkage has too much freedom to rotate about an axis parallel to its length. You could try reducing its freedom by gluing a piece of plastic to the side member underneath the vertical piece in order to reduce the clearance.