Did I destroy my new system?

[Nascien]

My sister and I were able to get a student discount on Windows products through our university. She obtained a copy of Windows 7 and burned me a copy to install on the new gaming computer I built.

I was able to install Windows 7 just fine (using my external DVD drive connected to the computer via USB), but encountered some problems installing drivers for my motherboard. Specifically, I had a problem with a program called Live Update 5 (it helps find and install updates for my motherboard from msi: B75MA-P45). It would pretend to download and install updates, but when I restarted the computer it would try to download and install the same ones over and over. I decided to uninstall Live Update 5, but encountered strange errors. For example, the program was already uninstalled or it could not find certain files to initiate the uninstall procedure. Because of this problem, I thought it would be a good idea to just reinstall windows and start over. Instead of using Live Update 5, I would instead just get the updates from msi directly.

This turned out to be a bad idea. While I tried to reinstall Windows 7, it started screaming that the product key was invalid and that it would halt the reinstallation. I then thought it would be a good idea to restore the system to a state before I installed Live Update 5. This was an even worse idea...

My computer doesn't seem to work at all now. It keeps saying my external DVD drive is an unknown device. When it tries to install the driver for the external DVD drive it says that it failed. Therefore I can't try to reinstall Windows 7 or anything else at all now. The drivers for my NIC are non existent so I can't connect to the internet.

I am at a complete loss of what to do. I'm literally panicking (which would most likely explain the poor spelling and grammar). I don't want the $700 worth of hardware to go down the drain. Please help!

 

[ThomasJ93]

Try installing it without entering the product key. When in Windows, you can enter the key there.

As for the NIC drivers, you can download them here:
http://us.msi.com/service/download/driver-2697.html

If you don't have a way of downloading them from a different system, simply install the driver that's on the disk that came with the motherboard.

 

[Nascien]

Try installing it without entering the product key. When in Windows, you can enter the key there.

As for the NIC drivers, you can download them here:
http://us.msi.com/service/download/driver-2697.html

If you don't have a way of downloading them from a different system, simply install the driver that's on the disk that came with the motherboard.

When I first installed Windows 7, the product key worked just fine. When I tried reinstalling Windows 7, before it even asked for a product key it started screaming that the product key was bad.

I can't download anything from the internet on the broken system since there is no driver for the NIC. I can't install any drivers from the disk that came with the mother board since the system says that it doesn't recognize the optical drive (connected externally via USB) and that when it tries to install drivers for the optical drive it fails.

 

[ThomasJ93]

I assume you're installing Windows by booting from the DVD? You should be given the option to clear your HDD before it even comes close to entering a product key.

You should do it like so: boot the system from the Windows DVD, do NOT choose the option to upgrade, remove any partitions you have on the system (assuming there's no data on it you wish to keep). Then select the drive you wish to install it to. No need to make partitions manually.

Next you should be able to do the rest of the installation like normal.

 

[smorizio]

Also use the micro soft iOS to USB tool. It save you time it make a bootable ISO USB for you from the windows 7 ISO. With the edu version of windows that you download you may have to call Microsoft support for a new eom or reg code. Most times these download iso have one use eom number. Also to make your life easy use another USB stick on it put intel chipset drivers. The sound card drivers. Video card and network drivers.

 

[Nascien]

I assume you're installing Windows by booting from the DVD? You should be given the option to clear your HDD before it even comes close to entering a product key.

You should do it like so: boot the system from the Windows DVD, do NOT choose the option to upgrade, remove any partitions you have on the system (assuming there's no data on it you wish to keep). Then select the drive you wish to install it to. No need to make partitions manually.

Next you should be able to do the rest of the installation like normal.

There was a terribly stupid solution to my problem: unplug the adapter and USB connector for the external DVD drive, plug in the adapter, and then plug in the USB connector. Reinstalling everything else worked exactly as you said. I was able to install all of my drivers without Live Update 5 and now my computer is running smoothly!

Thank you for the help everyone!