thank you for suggestion to use a hair dryer. it works.

Something else to try, bang the bottom of the camera to clear the error. I thought it was crazy but I found this port (tinyurl.com/rg4ym) and it really did work for me.

I have had the same eror message with my Sony DCR TRV730E after being for a weekend at the beach. Lots of rain and wind. We have tried to solve the problem with cleaning cassettes. That resulted in short periodes of running the video cassette for 6 to 10 seconds. The solution by using the hairdryer with warm and cold air is the perfect solution fr error C 31:42. I have j

I have a DRCTRV230 and had the same error C31:42. It wouldnt go away for weeks. The dealer said "We cant fix that it has to go back to Sony" and charged me $30. I found Michael Taylor's post here and tried his fix using the hairdryer and it works! Thanks a million, I was going to toss it in the trash and buy a new camcorder. Good Luck.

YES ! I have recently had the same message appear and found it to be caused by condensation by leaving it in the boot of my car in damp weather. It was impossible to clear simply by letting the camera warm up naturally and the Sony technical helpline were very unhelpful and wanted to charge me £175 +VAT to fix it. After two or three days the fault remained and so I used a hairdryer to blow warm air into the opem videotape area for a few seconds. I then continmued to blow with cool then cold air from the dryer. This cleared the problem and the camera now works perfectly. Electronic equipment is always very temperature-sensitive and so care must be taken not to allow the internal circuitry to heat up unduly othwise permanent damage could result. Because of Sony's attitude I was prepared to throw the camera away rather than pay their demand after only 15 months use. I was therefore prepared to take the risk !