Craftsman ½ HP not opening or closing; light flashes 10 times

This morning, the garage door opened with no problem. When I went to close it, it did not respond. I was already driving away so I called my wife, who said she could not get it to close. Eventually she had to close it manually. Upon returning home, when pressing the switch, sometimes the unit immediately flashes 10 times and then does nothing. Sometimes it starts to try and engage, then reverses and flashes 10 times. The manual says nothing about anything past 6 flashes, so I don't really know what this means. I've tried pulling trolley back up to re-engage it, but it doesn't click back in when I pull it all the way back up. 
Any suggestions as to what is going on here? Nothing is blocking the sensors on either side.

Attaching a few pictures.

Appreciate any help you can give. I don't know a whole lot when it comes to garage doors so any tips will be welcome!

What brand is it?
How old is the unit?
Is the left side of the trolley bent? It's hard to tell from the pictures.

You may want to take the cover off of the motor unit & look inside at the drive gear. Most operators have a plastic drive gear that can wear out or break over time. If you take the cover off & see white shavings inside then you know that the gear probably needs replaced.

It appears to be a Lift-Master or Chamberlain opener. The red cord needs pulled back toward the motor so the black piece with the cord through it is facing back and not down, the pictures are of the carriage in what I consider "lock out" in this position they will not reconnect and is intended for manual use. And on to the opener not closing. When you said "morning" the first thing that comes to mind is sunlight. In the winter months when the sun is much lower in the sky I see these sort of problems. Usually the door faces to the South or East and catches a direct hit from the sun on one of the sensors. A easy way to determine this is the cause is put a trash bin or anything that you can use to cast a shadow onto the sensor that has sun hitting it. Once you have it shadowed try it, if it works that was the problem. And if you leave at the same time everyday, this problem usually only last a short time since the sun is constantly in a different position. Hope this helps.