Olympus Stylus Epic Help: not starting up properly

I tried using the selftimer for the first time on my second hand Epic, and the

lens ended up getting stuck in the protruded position. Moving the lens cover

towards the closed position turned off the camera and brought the lens back in

no problem, but then when i tried to start it up again nothing worked. When

start up is attempted the LCD shows the number of exposures i've used and a full

battery indicator for a couple of seconds, and then the battery indicator just

disappears. After that none of the buttons do anything.

Previous to this the camera seemed to be working fine.

I even tried putting in a new battery, and that had no effect.

Any ideas?