Powershot a610 will not power on

my powershot A610 will not power on. what happens is the green power light flashes on for a second but no matter what the setting, it immediately turns off. i've checked the batteries in other gadgets, and they are working fine. the lens does not appear to
be obstructed by anything, and i've wiped off the connectors to the positive and negative
battery nodes. this camera has not been dropped and is fairly lightly used considering
i've had it for three years.
i had no problems the last time i used it, though that was probably about 2
months ago.
thanks