I've been reading some of the topics on here, and I'm not sure if anyone has the specific problem I have. I own a Sony VAIO PCG-K23. It's four years old and has only stopped working once due to an overheating issue about six months ago (has been working fine since, until today). I turned my computer off at around 11 AM today and packed it up to move it to a new location. Five hours later, went to turn it on, and nothing happened. Thinking it might have been overheated again, I let it sit for a while and came back to it. Still nothing. Tried running it with only the AC, then just the battery. Still nothing. I opened it up to make sure everything looked alright, and didn't remove/touch anything. That's when I noticed whenever I put the battery back in, even with it shut down completely, I'll hear about 5 click noises coming from around the battery terminal area. It's not around the hard drive - I checked. This is near the battery. The clicking noises sound like a second hand on a watch ticking. Also, I tried holding down on the power button, then putting back the battery and AC adapter to see if that works. Nothing.
About a month ago, I noticed a screw had come loose inside the computer (very small one). I opened it up, and it was lodged in plastic, but I couldn't get it out (couldn't see it even). It didn't rattle, and it's been running near perfectly up until this day.
Please, someone, anyone help. I've put my computer away for the night because I don't want to accidentally do anything else to it. Can anyone tell me what to do, or what is wrong?