Trying To Re-install Windows 8 on Relatively New GT70 Laptop

Question

Greetings ~!
If you don't mind, I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself. I'm not an expert, when it comes to computers; but I'm not a novice either. However, I am new when it comes to RAID. My laptop is still pretty relatively new - I customized and bought it in June 2013, and it arrived in July '13. Since my desktop pc was dying out, and our family does a lot of traveling during the summers, I was looking to convert to a laptop that would give me the same performance my desktop had, but would be portable. I spend most of my time as a researcher and digital artist, but I'm also a freelance web designer-developer and photo/video editor on the side - when time allows (I'm a married mom of 5 - time is precious, if you know what I mean. ).  I custom built my desktop, back in 2006, with the help of two very dear friends who've done this for a living - back then, I was an avidly active gamer and wanted a system that would  greatly support those highly-graphic intensive games (i.e. Crysis, BioShock, etc.); but I'm not as much into them anymore (now, when given the opportunity and I need a brain-break, I'll play logic and strategic puzzle-like games).
Here is a brief summary of my specs :
Processor: 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4900MQ (2.8GHz - 3.8GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache)
Graphics Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M 4,096MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 w/ Optimus™ Technology
Ram: 32GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-818CP] (Dual Channel Memory (4x8GB SODIMMS))
mSATA SSD Drive - Configuration Option: mSATA Option: Operating System Installed w/ mSATA(s):
  - 2 mSATA SSD Drives: 128GB Solid State Drive (Super RAID) mSATA - [ In Primary Hard Drive Bay ]
  - Second Hard Drive: 1,000GB (1TB) 7200RPM Seagate Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 6GB/s - 64MB Cache)
Wireless Network: Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Dual Band Wireless-N 1103 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Operating System: WINDOWS 8.1 Pro - (64-bit) [at the time of purchase, I had upgraded to Windows 8 Pro 64-bit]
--- I also bought the Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Surround 5.1 Pro external soundcard for my Logitech Z-680 5.1 Configuration 500W speakers (which continue to work perfectly to this day); but when things started going awry with my laptop, the soundcard stopped working properly (all 3 of my 3.0 usb ports seemingly stopped working - they're not ?powering out as they were when I first got my laptop).
--- I just recently bought two external/portable drives from Seagate : Backup Plus Slim (1T) and Expansion Desktop (3T)
My laptop started to become awry back in December/January '13 when I got the wild idea to try out a different internet security program. I had been using avast! for years (w/no problems), but I wanted something that would be more beneficial to me in covering the Windows 8 apps (my desktop was a WinXP system). After spending several days, on and off, reading through reviews over current I.S. programs, I thought I'd give BitDefender a try (they developed a program specifically for Windows 8), so I downloaded and installed their trial version. Upon installing the program, I was prompted to remove/uninstall avast - which I did. After installation proved successful, and things 'seemed well' with my system, I noticed that avast left traces of its program throughout my computer (this is a huge peeve of mine - when uninstalled programs leave icons and hidden files spread out all over your computer). This triggered a prompt to check my graphic/video editors to see if they were still working properly. Well, to my disappointment, one of my editors wouldn't even launch and load. I tested another editor, only to find out that my plugins wouldn't launch and load. By this point, my "peeve" turned into severe frustration. Having dealt with a program that left traces/?breadcrumbs before, I pulled up the trusty recommendation page (that I bookmarked from its tech support), and followed through the instructions on how to manually remove the program - which then proved unsuccessful. So, I thought ... 'what should I do now? ... ahh, let's try a system restore!' Not only did the system restore seem successful, it also brought back the problems with it. *grrr* After talking with a MS tech representative and other tech support representatives (for my editors), I was advised to re-install Windows - they told me my system files were corrupted, and that each time I performed a system restore, I was just bringing back the corruption. In the short time that I've had this laptop, I've already built up quite the collection of 'data', from projects I had been working on (nearly 500 G's worth). Since I didn't have any backup devices at the time, I had to wait until I was able to buy one (which, I finally received two weeks ago). I was also in the midst of another project that I wanted to complete before wiping everything out (I had set up a local server to work on this project). While the project is not entirely complete, it is at a safe point where I could back it up. The day before yesterday, I backed up all of my work and data to my Expansion Drive, and downloaded all of my laptop's drivers to my portable 'slim' drive. On top of dealing with my computer issues, we have been dealing with extremely annoying 'internet' issues (w/our provider), which was prolonging the progress of completing my project ... but it 'supposedly' got resolved last week (FYI: internet services around the Atlanta area are disappointingly lacking in reliability, sufficiency, and options - which is dominated by only 2 companies, and neither provide the highest speeds available in the market, like in other areas).
Now, I am at my wit's end trying to figure out how to re-install my Windows OS. I have wasted my entire day, yesterday, trying the various recommendations to get this done, and I haven't gotten anywhere with it (aside from downloading every driver that I'll need, once the installation proves successful). Is anyone familiar with re-installing Windows on a RAID set-up?  I've already sent in a support ticket, but the reply was it may take up to 48 hours for them to respond? If I can get this resolved sooner, I'd be much happier - right now, I'm the grouchiest person on the planet. heh Per this recommendation - resetting Windows (service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/TechFAQdetail.aspx?formid=3035), that I tried to perform, I get a message that tells me a partition is missing  - no error code was given (I'm not certain what that means, but I haven't "deleted" any partitions - much less, I haven't even messed with anything that is "partition" related; I'm assuming this has to do with the RAID set-up? Although, I did perform a complete system defrag about 2 months ago - could this have been the culprit?). I get the exact same message for this recommendation (alternate route to reset Windows), as well : (service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/TechFAQdetail.aspx?formid=3034) - partition is missing. When those two didn't work, I inserted my Windows 8 disc, to attempt re-installing it that way - it was unsuccessful. The only message it gave me was that it was not able to complete the install (no error codes and no other messages were given). As for this recommendation (a .pdf  file with instructions) - service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/TechFAQdetail.aspx?formid=3034 - it's referring to a slightly different laptop than mine. It's for the GP line of laptops. Mine is a GT70 2OD (w/GTX 780M - msi.com/product/nb/GT70_2OD.html#download). I downloaded all of the drivers, utilities, BIOS, and firmware for Win8.1 64, but I also downloaded the Intel RAID driver for Win8 64. Something in my gut tells me not to follow the instructions per this last recommendation, that there is a correct way to go about it - I'm just not certain what it is? I feel like it has to do with that Intel RAID driver - like instead of using the WDHybrid driver that was suggested in that recommendation, I need to use the Intel RAID driver? but what about the other driver that's mentioned in the .pdf file (WD Boost Driver)? See, I'm worried that if I choose to go with this last recommendation, it will that permanently disable the RAID? Admittedly, my understanding of how RAID works is a bit limited, especially when it comes to this issue. Right now, I have all of the drivers downloaded to my pocket backup drive (Seagate Slim Backup Plus) - so if I need any of those files for installation, I'll be able to access them via USB.
Please forgive me for the lengthy post. I wanted to provide enough details that will hopefully assist getting this issue resolved a little more quickly. I'm trying to recover from pneumatic bronchitis (and the "severe persistent asthma" nightmare it triggered); so I've already been struggling with stress, panic, and frustration. This looming computer-related issue is seemingly intensifying those feelings. I'm having a hard time thinking straight ... if ya know what I mean. heh  I really hate wasting days, when I really don't have days to waste and nothing gets resolved or accomplished. I inherited an 'engineering gene' from my dad, so I've always been the type that prefers to fix things myself, test things out, and learn as I go along; and I've been pretty  successful in doing so. Mind you, I don't go about fixing and testing things blindly, without researching about them first; but when you're not feeling well (feeling 'out of sorts') and reach higher levels of frustration and stress ... it seems next to impossible to focus and get things done right. 
If anyone is able to help me, I will GREATLY appreciate you~!   
Thanking you in advance~!

Answer 1

Quote from: lcwhitlock on 04-April-14, 13:44:09
Hello darkhawk,
Thank you for the recommendation.  I somewhat understand what a MS DOS disk is, but I'm not sure how to go about creating one. I've seen where you can use a program, like Rufus, to create a usb one  - but I'm leery about using 3rd-party programs (especially ones I'm not familiar with). I've come across a couple of 'how-to' tuts, but they didn't clarify what files (if any) I would need to include on the disk (for my particular situation). Right now I don't have any blank cds, nor any extra flash/thumb drives - wish I did, but hadn't needed these for years. There has only been one other time where I needed to re-install Windows, but that was over 15 years ago - I did it through BIOS, reformatting my drives, and then reinstalled via the Windows XP disk. Windows 8 is an entirely different breed, which has left me feeling a bit stumped, at times. If there was a way I could perform it (successfully), similar to the first time I did it years ago, I'd give it a try - but at the same time, I'm a bit reluctant, because if it doesn't work, then I'm stuck without any internet access to get further help.
Ask and ye shall receive. This should be doable in Windows 7 and Windows 8 on another PC. I recommend using a USB Flash drive like in this tutorial, but I'm sure you could use something else.
If you want, you could also use Hiren's BootCD to make a bootable CD with many options and programs on it (I keep one, just for certain situations) that will allow you to do the same things.
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
Also very useful for sorting out virus's as long as it's downloaded and made on another PC that is virus free......