I suffered the same thing with my 1st gen PS2 ( I got it at the launch date after 26 hours on the line !! ) So I contacted Sony and had it fixed for about 99 bucks !!
But a Kid in line at the service center told me to get mad at the Customer Service Folks , so I did and they Fixed it for free !!
And now that it happened again (after 9 months)they are sending me a refurbished system in exchange for my old onefor free. I hope i get to play GTA Vice City before the semester starts(I just bought it when my system went nuts) !!