MBR/PT BIOS CD/ROM one major mess

Ok Folks, here we go. I have a major problem with my MBR and BIOS.
For the past 4 weeks I visited scores of Forums including Asus and Microsoft, on M$ site I used their scan utility.
Asus is offering me the repair by sending the unit in. Which I'm not too happy about it, I need my comp for my work.
I do have a Fujitsu Notebook but need to repar it first.
(Fujitsu is the best, all what it takes is a 10 minutes Taxi ride and I'm at Fujitsu repair center)

I've Asus G73jw-A2 quad core i7 GXT460 v.card 16GB RAM and 2 internal H-Disks x500GB each at 7200 RPM.

Out of the box the layout of the partitions
/sda1 = hidden Asus recovery partition (FAT32)
/sda2 220 GB with Win7 Premium x64.
/sda3 250GB NTFS empty partition.
Second Hard Disk
/sdb1 250GB
/sdb2 250GB, both NTFS naturally.

I was planning to delete Win Premium7 OS but it looked nice, no crap software so I decided to keep it.

This is what I did. I shrunk the /sda2 with Premium to about 120GB using Win Disk Mngm console, then deleted /sda3 250 GB. The rest of the partitioning I used Esaus Partition Mngr about 5 months old release.
I created new /sda3 (right next to Premium) about 130 GB where I installed Win7 x64 Enterprise from my work. the remaining space became /sda4 NTFS storage.
Now /dev/sdb...I deleted /sdb1 and created 4 raw partition for my new Linux. The existing NTFS 250 GB /sdb2 remained untouched, designaded for backups.

About 5-6 weeks ago I've noticed that my CD/DVD Rom BlueRay does not work. Yes I can see it but it does not read any media..it won't even spin. Same story on Linux. I rarely use CD/ROM so I have no idea when it stopped working. I did not do any kind of tweaking on my Windows (I have no need for tweaks) no software related to CD/ROM with the exception of Power Iso which I've never used, I prefer Infra Recorder. Anyway most burning that I do is done on Linux.
I did checked for all odd drivers in Device Mngr like SPTD and others. Have read the Event log, no cigar.

Out od curiosity I started my old good friend "Test Disk" and the results schocked me. I will attach the screenshots...MBR read, Deep search plus after loading the back up.
The MBR's are corrupted no question about it but how? I've never did any partition operations after the original one.
I know that Win7 installs a small hidden partition, either as primary or as an compartment.
I had 4 primary ones so the hidden one would have to become 5th one or as I see on my Test Disk results my last primary partition /sda4 became logical but logical needs extended/primary first!!! (you won't see this on attached screenshots)

Also Test Disk shows results about active partition. the MBR result shows /sda2 Premium as an active one...after the search, the results show /sda1 FAT32 Recovery partition as an active one.

Now the second Hard Disk the /dev/sdb....all partitions looks just fine but it shows that they are all deleted.
I could change all this on /dev/sdb and write to MBR the correct status of these partitions plus write new MBR code but for now I'm still looking for some other options as the dev/sda is the critical one.

Important Note...Linux OS on the second HD /dev/sdb has installed it's own boot manager "Grub" on the second HD or /dev/sdb.
Every time I boot I bring up the BIOS menu and highlight the Disk that I want to boot from. (I also have about a dozen portable drives)
So I don't see how Grub installed on /SDB could mess up MBR on /SDA...(actually both Disks look bad)

For the record I use this type of layout on 2 HD's for years and never had a slightest problem...That includes the Fujitsu that I mentioned up above (my fans are out)


Next mistery, my comp recognize 8-in-1 SD card reader but it wants to format my SD cards...they work fine when attached via USB dongle. My floppy drives (A:\ & B:\) are not being seen by BIOS and/or Windows.
No chance using my Dos programs on floppies or CD Disks to repair MBR's.

I do have the partition images (sector by sector) made by the Acronis created a week after I have got this computer. I also have newer images but I don't know when the problem started.

Viruses/Malware....Very duobtfull...When I work on Windows I rarely download anything also when I do use browser(s) (not IE ever) I go to about 10 sites that is it...mostly https.
On the top of this my comp is barricaded, Every time anything needs to go out or in needs my permission.
Antvirus, do quick scans everyday. full scans every week. plus Malwarebytes everyday. How frequent the scans are done? it all depends how often I'm on Windows...I spend more time on Linux then on Windows.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you the full picture
Talking about pictures the limit is 4, so you won't see many things that I've wrote about in this post.
Final Note all aplications/softwares are legit

 

Try going to ASUS' support site and downloading the latest BIOS version for your board. Newer ASUS boards allow you to update the BIOS using the EZ-Flash utility in the setup screen; no OS or hard drive required (after downloading, unzip the file and transfer it to either a CD or empty USB flash drive).

This may be a long shot; however if it works it's a 10-15 minute fix.

Hope this helps.

 

That was one of the first things that crossed my mind. However I've the latest BIOS version.
I wish if I knew that there is an option to overwrite the whole BIOS, make a backup and so on (like in a old days) that would fix all problems in one shot. Now days I don't see this option(s).
The good news is that my BIOS sees flash Drives...I will try your trick in a few minutes.
I have two Win7 side by side...and I don't know which one is the guilty one.

Here you have another shot from Test Disk after analyze and loaded backup