Shutter release button doesn't work.

After turning on the camera the control panel shows all of the relative information, but when it is in the final stage of being on, the control panel only displays the battery indicator and the exposure compensation icon. At this point depressing the shutter has no effect. If I hold down the AE/AF lock button, the lens focuses, the control panel shows all of the shooting information and the shutter release works. The only way I can get the camera to take a picture is to manually hold down the AE/AF button in order to get the shutter button to work. Can you give me some idea how to correct this problem?