2008-12-30

pxhelp20.sys, x64 and Sony Picture Utility

My wife wanted to convert some AVCHD videos to a smaller format. I know there are tons of programs for that but I decided to use the free utility that came with our video camera SONY HDR-SR8 - the "Sony Picture Utility".

Everybody knows, that have worked with video that these kinds of tasks take time and CPU. So, I wanted to use some excessive CPU on my Windows 2008 Server - using latest Xeon CPU. This server is 64 bit operating system. I installed the software. It asked me to reboot. Since I only saw pictures and no videos I decided that maybe I had to reboot. By the way, I hate software that requires reboot!

Rebooting..It does not start..Moving a screen to the Server shows that Windows can't start because "pxhelp20.sys is corrupt or missing" - location \Windows\SysWOW64\Drivers\pxhelp20.sys. It seems like this driver is used by a lot of dvd tools and also the Sony Picture Utility. I started my Windows CD for repair but repair did not repair. My only way was through the command prompt. The file was there! I did not have any other 64 bit Windows 2008 so I asked a friend to send me same file for Vista x64. Replaced the file - same error. I was starting to getting nervous because I had a database on that Server that needed to be up and running. As a last option I deleted the file from the command prompt and hey, Windows started.

While this was a success in the end the story does not end here. I quickly noticed that all my cdroms where gone. Even Deamon Tools drives. This was not critical but needs to be solved.

Updated 2009-09-13:

Thanks to Junior-PL I got a solution:

1. Start->Run and open regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM and open key CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. There may be a lot of keys with this name but search for one that has (default) value DVD/CD-ROM drives
4. Now, when you have found this one you delete strings "LowFilters" and "UpperFilters" (if existing)
5. Reboot and pray (should work!)

11 comments:

II ARROWS said...

Hi, I had the same problem yesterday. How did you solved it?

Henrik said...

I haven't solved it yet! Even though I replace with original files same boot problems occur. I am able to replace the files in runtime and everything works but when rebooting it fails again..

Unknown said...

If you can get to the file, delete it and that should let you boot. I have had the same problem on both 32 and 64 bit Vista. I am starting to hate Sony since my new camera does not work with any of my Vista PCs and it has screwed them up twice now!

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say thanks for your blog on this issue!!!! You just saved me the hassle of reinstalling windows 7! Thanks so much!!!

Junior-PL said...

Thank You for this solution... I had the same problem today with Windows 7 pro.
Two hours of fighting with auto-fix.... and then I found this Article :) Alleluja :)

Junior-PL said...

ok... for 'repair' optical drives in system try this:
In Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/
CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
remove "LowFilters" and "UpperFilters"...

it works in windows 7 pro. now I testing burn with nero but it looks ok :)

Henrik said...

Thanks Junior-PL for your post. I have updated my original post!

/ Henrik

Unknown said...

Thank you SO much, man! You saved me hours of reinstalling. Even the drives are there, didn't have to anything with registry on my Windows7 Ultimate. Thumbs up, dude, really.

Pete said...

Wish I could say you saved me hours... but you've ended my frustration. Thanks!

Mat Sun said...

You are a legend! Thanks so much for posting this! Was going back and forth installing PMB then doing system restore for a while until I came across this little gem of a post.

Can't thank you enough. Keep up the cool blog.

Ewoud said...

this solution works super great!

Sony software...first these rootkits, now this...