This is a common fault, The Dew sensor has been activated!
The manual says to leave the cassette door open for about 1 hour- unfortunately its a bit more serious than that!- it needs repair from sharp- If it is a VL-Z1H you are ok and service can be arranged under warranty or not From Sharp UK......
Any other model, (Such as mine!) VL-Z1U they will not work on, Will not entertain the warranty (Unless you take it back to the country of origin! mine = USA)
There is a place where service can be obtained in Telford - However, Cost is probably more than Camera's value!
Hence the reason many are for sale on Ebay with this fault, and go for less than £20-They are virtually unusable!
Troy
March 2008