Silly question, but did you remove the string from the beater bar and inspect the clutch?

Here is a link that might be useful: Instructions

Back already. I took the bottom apart and I broke the belt. I can probably order a replacement so I'm off to do that. Hopefully that'll take care of it! I posted out of panic.

The Dyson people are really helpful if you call them up. I had a problem with mine once and they walked me through how to fix it and were very patient with me.

I hate to tell you this, but you have to send it in to have the belt changed Sheesh. Because of all the copy cats dyson's are made so the consumer cannot change the belts. At least that's the way it was five years ago. Luckily mine was just under 5 years old and still covered by the warranty when it happened so I didn't have to pay to have it sent in. I would have been without a vacuum for weeks so I headed to Tar--- and got Bissell's lift off multi cyclonic vacuum for pets. I love it as much, if not more than, my dyson and it only cost $149 on sale. Reg price $180. They have a newer model now which I'll link to below. It's only around $130 at WM.
I'll never buy a dyson again because I refuse to pay that much for a vacuum and then have to send it across the country for something that should easily be done by the consumer, like changing a belt.
Oh, and we have four long haired cats so I need something that really sucks! And Bissell is every bit as good as the more expensive dyson.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bissell lift off multi cyclonic pet vac

I took my Dyson to a vacuum repair place and they were able to replace what ever needed to be repaired. I have lots of pet hair with three cats and two big dogs one being a husky who dropped his coat in June.

Errant - I was thankfully able to pull the strings out. Thanks for the link!

Gail - I'm glad to hear. Customer service seems to be rather poor at best with most places.

Justgotabeme - Hmm.. I think I should be able to do it myself. When I did a search for a replacement the ones coming up were generic so I'm guessing I'd have to call Dyson to get an official one, but the reviews seem good for ones I saw. Here's a video. I definitely wouldn't be happy if I had to ship the thing somewhere!

Thanks for the info and link about the Bissell. My mom has a Dyson ball and, I think, a Shark (white, bagless) and she feels it does a better job than her Dyson.

Gretchen - I was able to locate a place to have it repaired if need be. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that because it's an hour away. Just taking the time to do that kind of stuff is a pain. It still beats buying a new vacuum I suppose.

I was surprised at the dirt/hair that fell out when I removed the bottom!

Here is a link that might be useful: video

Sheesh, there have been changes since I bought my dyson. The belt is sealed inside the machine and I could not figure out how to get to it. It wasn't as simple as the young man in the video's vac was. My guess is since everyone else is making the cyclonic vacs now, dyson decided he needed to make his more user friendly. I may not have been the only one that refused to buy another dyson and their sales went down enough they changed the design. That's good for the consumer!
I hope you can get the belt changed on your own.