When I turn the camera on it will make a very loud beep 4 times the screen will flash and then the camera turns itself off

Theres ablackbox under steering that control sound. Open it n turn off. A partsplace can help u

This exact thing happened to me. The 3 load beeps is the camera warning that the lens has not been collapsed. Unfortunately in these little cameras everything is so tightly fitted and assembled that your best bet is to either replace the entire lens assembly or the camera itself. A quick search on eBay turned up no results for replacements parts so unless you have warranty, you may need to replace the camera. :(

This is an added extra and basically a new problem. Mine is brand new. I hold the left button down, and get the first beep, then hold the right button down, and it beeps multiple times, and stayes at 88. It took about 15-20 minutes of trying this before we got the 00. I think the lock mechanism is broken, as I can't get it locked either at the end, so I just let the system lock itself after 1 minute. We unplugged it and tried again, and still after multple time eventually got it to go to 00. I take it that this isn't normal.

Everytime I try to turn it on, the lens comes out for about a second, the camera beeps 3 times, the lens retracts and the camera shuts off. The battery is completely charged and the camera is only 4 months old. HELPP :(

make sure its charged or check to see if anything has happened to it.

The following blog outlines some repair options for an E18 lens error. They won't work for all cases, but they're worth a try if the camera's no longer under warranty:

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

Format the card from the camera itself; worked from me

If you have a retractable lens then that could be causing the problem. The beeps is letting you know that it's wrong and it shut off as a safe guard. So the noise you are hearing is the motor and gears for the lens.

e:91:01 is a flash error you might fix it by initializing the settings of the camera but there is no guaranty.

1.turn the unit on
2.press the menu button
3. select setup
4. inside setup and search for setup 1 (option with a toolbox icon with a number at the bottom.)
5. inside setup1, pls select initialize and reply with OK to evety prompt(using the center button)
6.if succesfull(you'll get clock settings)
7.set the date and time then try the camera again.

if this does not work.... call sony cust service 1800-222-7669

This seems like Lens motor stall
Send it back