Camera lens not retracting

The Problem with the Canon PowerShot A470 Digital Camera Is That, where do I start? I took my mum's camera(without her permission!). And used it at school to take pictures during a Prefect Party I had. Everything went well till the lens jammed(fully extended) I tried switching it on and off, but I still got that error message.
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Unfortunately, many cameras that fall prey to lens error problems can only be corrected by professional repair. But, here are some last resort troubleshooting steps that you can try that may correct it. They only seem to work for less than 40% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty (or repair cost approaches that of the camera), they're worth that try.

Lens has jammed. Usually becuae of a drop or because sand or grit has got into the mechanism. Only solution really is to get it professioanlly repaired.

i was taking picturres with my canon A470 digital camera and when i review the pictures that i take, the pics were very bright that you cant view well the pics. what is the problem with it? it just suddenly happened like this.

Lens errors are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here are some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try.
　

Remove the batteries and externally recharge them . Sometime batteries , in some cases can have a polarity change but then the camera may just not turn on.

Has anyone responded to you on this yet - I have had the same problem and don't know what to do?>

Lens errors (E18 errors on Canons) are fairly common. Usually it's sand or grit interfering with the lens extension mechanism. Or the camera's been dropped with the lens extended. Or the camera has been powered on, but the lens had been blocked preventing its extension. Or the battery ran down with the lens extended ...

Here's some things that you can do to try to correct it. They only seem to work for less than 50% of the lens errors, but if the camera is out of warranty, they're worth a try:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html

Switch off and on again? Take battery out and replace. Thats the only 2 ways of 'restarting a camera that I know of. Does your model have a 'reset' function? You will have to check the manual for that. Or ask Canon support.

Try the simple stuff first. Install fresh batteries. Remove the memory card. If that doesn't fix the problem, it is time for warranty.