Alright, for those of you who aren't aware, I've been trying to figure out a good way to reformat my whole computer and reinstall Windows in such a way that I can get things working again as well as they do now, except with a clean install and with all the stuff actually working correctly (drivers, Office, USB ports, etc.), and it's been a very exceedingly LONG journey, but now it seems like I'm VERY close to completing it, but something huge has gotten in my way!

Because of the fact that I don't have a backup copy of Office 2010, and my computer seems to be EXTREMELY finicky about getting anything to work properly, I was hoping to be able to restore my hard drive from a backup rather than reinstall Windows the normal way (I have a backup of the hard drive the way it was when I first got my computer, which was included with it), because if I can restore it successfully then it should all work well.

So I have a small partition that I'm using for testing, so as not to mess up the main partition. I've tested pretty much EVERYTHING. I couldn't get my backup to be recognized for restoration purposes at first, so I was considering just reinstalling Windows instead, but I had to do it on the test partition, and so far I've managed to get most of the USB ports to be recognized, and I got the drivers for everything installed and working. I also found Libre Office, which is a fine alternative to Office in case I can't ever get that installed again.

But I've been messing with it and eventually I got it to the point that it could recognize my backup files when I boot from a Windows repair CD, so theoretically I should be able to finally do the backup! Though I need to scrub the hard drive before I do.

But here's the problem: I don't know whether it was because of my constantly switching USB ports for every possible device, my continuously restarting and booting into all kinds of different special tools, diagnostic stuff for testing, and Windows, or if the computer just got tired and decided to be extremely annoying, but for whatever reason, I have several problems now that I'm not sure what caused them or how to fix them:

- When in Windows, my keyboard is very sporadic, and either works well, works sometimes when I press keys, or doesn't work at all, and I have to switch USB ports, which may or may not get it to work correctly, so I keep messing with it until it does.

- When outside of windows (rebooting the computer before Windows loads) I can't seem to get the Keyboard to be recognized at all! It's a wireless keyboard which has a plug that I stick in, leading to a device with lights on it to tell me which of the "lock" keys are currently pressed. Sometimes they light and sometimes not, which sometimes varies depending on which USB port I use, and sometimes the light changes when I press the function lock key, but usually not the caps lock or num lock keys (at least outside of Windows).

- Because the keyboard doesn't work, I can't tell it to load my original version of Windows, because it gives me a list of two options (and for some reason, the new test version appears first) and always picks the first one by default since I can't press the down arrow and Enter before the time expires!

- Also, I can't seem to boot from a CD/DVD anymore, because half the time it will try to boot from the hard drive anyway, or if it does try to boot from the CD then it'll say to please press a key to do so, but it doesn't recognize when I press a key, so it times out and boots from the hard drive!!! I do have it set to boot from the DVD ROM first, so why is it asking me if I want to do that? Can't I disable that stupid confirmation? Otherwise what's the point of telling it ahead of time to put it first in the boot order? If I didn't want to boot from that drive then I wouldn't even put a CD/DVD in it in the first place! What moron's idea was it to put in that confirmation?!

So anyway, I can't boot my original partition with Windows and everything working more reasonably well, and I can't boot from a CD/DVD, and I can barely get my keyboard to work, especially outside of Windows! What's wrong with my computer and how do I get it to scrub the partitions I want and then restore my backup, or failing that, just reinstall Windows on the main partition so that I can get it working from that point?

Maybe remove battery from the motherboard for 5 minutes then try again?

I'm not sure how to do that, but I just unplugged the computer now (it was off and I always turned off the switch on the back beside the plug), and I'll plug it in after like an hour or so. That should do it, if that was the problem.

Though I did try that before, and it seemed to fix a bunch of USB ports, but I don't see why that would be wrong with it, because the keyboard does at least usually work pretty well in Windows, but just not when the computer is booting, which makes no sense to me!

I NEED to be able to boot from a CD/DVD or choose my alternate Windows partitions from which to boot!

Just out of curiosity, how old (from new) is this computer you own/are using ?.

Indeed, what are your computer specs?

Maybe I'm asking the obvious but have you tried a different keyboard?

USB is complicated. I've had some computers that had trouble talking with my keyboard at boot.

I don't remember off hand what all is in it, but I'm pretty sure it was built in early 2013, I'm pretty sure it's 64-bit, and I'm running Windows 7 on it, though that's kind of a moot point I guess, because this is stuff I'm trying to do before Windows boots, and I can't even so much as get into the BIOS or change the boot order!

Anyway, there's USB 3.0 compatibility but I was using my USB keyboard before booting Windows and it worked just fine, up until recently when it stopped working. I had been switching it with a lot of different USB ports a bunch of times, because I was trying to get various peripheral devices working, mostly while I was in Windows, but occasionally the keyboard wouldn't work before booting Windows and I had to press F10 or something, but couldn't, so I'd switch the port, which sometimes fixed it and sometimes didn't. But now I can't seem to fix it.

The keyboard is wireless but it's communicating with a device at the end of a USB cord, which has lights on it to show which "lock" keys are pressed. Sometimes they light up when it's plugged into one port or another, sometimes when I start up the computer and sometimes not - sometimes when I plug it in and sometimes not, or sometimes they flash for a tiny fraction of a second and then go off again. In any case, when they're lit, I can usually toggle the light for the function lock key, but not the caps lock or num lock keys - I don't know why.

The wireless keyboard adapter actually has a split cable so that it can plug into USB or PS/2 or whatever it's called, but I don't think I ever got it to work with anything but USB. The device is actually intended to communicate wirelessly with a keyboard or mouse, and it came bundled with them (they're by Microsoft and I think they're called Intellisense or something, but I use a different mouse now).

It SHOULD BE NOTED that the keyboard itself does work, and so do the USB ports, because when I let it boot into Windows by default then the lights on the device turn on and I can use the keyboard! I've had problems like that too, but that was mostly because I used to have the communication thing hooked onto an extension cable with a 3-way USB splitter, but once I plugged it into the computer directly it worked fine, except that now it doesn't, and just when I was about to start reinstalling operating systems and stuff, now I can't even tell it to boot from a DVD because I can't "press any key"!

EDIT: And by the way, I do have another keyboard on the other computer (the one that I'm using now), which is newer (a few years old but I had it as a spare and just took it out of the box a few weeks ago because my other keyboard died somehow), but it's a huge pain to move because I have to unhinge a desk drawer and put it back in, just to route the wire through the desk properly. I know this because I tried using it on the other computer when I initially couldn't get its keyboard to work because I had it plugged into the splitter, but I couldn't seem to get this one to work on that, so I'm not sure why it would work now either.

The easiest way is to boot up a live Linux environment (Mint is excellent, Parted Magic or Puppy Linux for older computers) from USB/CD and use a partitioning program with GUI, and scrub/create the table you like.

If you need these...

Linux ISO to USB:
http://multibootusb.org/
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

Win ISO to USB:
https://rufus.ie/ Should be obvious, but low batteries? Try with cable as the older computers didn't always like or couldn't talk to the keyboard's dongle.

As clarry mentoned; USB under boot can be iffy, especially on older computers and wasn't fully supported in BIOS in the early days. That's why you need/needed to install Windows WITH USB(3) drivers, or use older USB port (not infront but one that is directly on the backside on the PC - on the mamaboard). Also, PS/2 is always safe bet as its something the BIOS can control directly.

Again, it all depends on age and implementation. You should be aware that if you restore a backup you might end up having to repair the MBR/Win boot part. Should you decide to reinstall and you bump into a problem under install; use another computer to install Win unto the disk (just remove everything and only allow the disk you want to install unto on a SATA/IDE port), install what you need including drivers for the other computer, shutdown cleanly, and then switch it back to that computer. I've done this several times, even between home and work computer. Quick and dirty, but effective for testing and if problems should arise. CR2032 is most common and have been used for many years.
http://pctechnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/remove-battery.jpg

Removing the battery (while the power cable is out) will make the mamaboard "forget" certain things (clearing CMOS), and can be used if the computer is hanging, has problems, or to reset faulty changes. Upon starting again you need to go into the BIOS and confirm it.

Or, depending on the type of mamaboard you may need to remove a jumper. Look around your motherboard's surface for a jumper with the CLEAR CMOS label, which should be located near the jumper and the clock.

While you're inside the box; see if you can spot the nameID of your mamaboard...

A butt load of good info, but I think OP doesn't know linux or wants to use such at any point.....I might be wrong, though.

Well I think I might be able to use the keyboard well again, even outside of Windows. I had more problems with VS today because somehow my external drive automatically remapped its letter and a bunch of file paths didn't work, so I had tried to reinstall some stuff unsuccessfully, and then realized that the drive letter was wrong and changed it back. Why would it do that? Well remember, the problem was that I couldn't use the keyboard, which means that I couldn't boot from a CD/DVD, because it expects me to "press any key". Also, I don't think I've ever gotten the PS/2 port on that computer to work. It's not a battery problem, because the keyboard works fine once I'm in Windows (it's not even sporadic like yesterday), but it wasn't working at all outside of Windows. Why's that? Wouldn't it just set everything how it's supposed to be? How do I repair that, anyway??? That sounds like a very important thing to do!!! First of all, my other computer is even older (like 12.5 years) and I'm not even sure it's compatible with Windows 7 at all, or at least I have no idea where I'd get drivers for it, and it's my only backup so I REALLY don't want to mess it up at all. And also, I'm really not good with messing directly with hardware and I'm not even sure that I have the tools necessary to open up the computer (and I'm aware that may just be a screwdriver, but I really am not sure that I'd be able to move a hard drive from one computer to another). I'm much better at programming than I am at anything with hardware, and I got a D in my electronic fundamentals course in college. I don't even know where to start with that. See the previous part of my reply. If I'm not comfortable with and don't have the tools to take out a hard drive then there's certainly no way that I could do anything with a motherboard battery, assuming that I could recognize the difference between that and an EEPROM chip or a processor cache (yes I know what all of the stuff is - conceptually, but I have little to no experience with any of it physically, and I'm afraid that I'd probably electrocute myself). I think I understood about 8 or 9 words of that, but thanks for trying. I'm just not familiar with all of these specific model specifications, nor would I recognize one if someone threw it at my face.

EDIT:

No, you're pretty much right, as I explained above, but you somehow managed to slip your post in before mine, even though it was 26 minutes earlier (I think I had opened a bunch of topic pages and then replied to each in a row, and this one took a long time, and I forgot to refresh first, so I didn't see your post).

Oh, and by the way, where can I get USB 3.0 drivers? Because I'm not sure that they're included whenever I just install Windows.

And also, why is it that whenever I format a partition with Windows on it, and even wipe it completely clean, that instance of Windows still shows up in the boot options, but then if I try to boot it then it just says it can't be found (obviously), but why is it listed at all?

If they are not included then you should look at your motherboard manufacturer's site.

PC gremlins? I'm joking, but with all your problems I wouldn't rule it out. o.0

It happens. :)

That's why you need to inject the driver into the iso file itself, especially for Win7 (and XP).

https://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/417827-integrate7-script-automatically-download-slipstream-all-updates.html
http://host.internetdsl.pl/Integrate7_v2_20_USB3_AHCI_NVMe.7z <-- there's also USB3 and SATA drivers there as well for several types.

Without knowing exactly how you partition table is setup; Windows 7 creates two partitions, including setting boot options in the MBR (Master Boot Record, a very small place at the beginning of the disk for step booting, before handling the process over to the OS. There's a "link" in the MBR on where the boot sequence of the OS is on the harddrive).

The small partition is a system partition and since you only wiped the main Win7 partition, the sys and or the MBR part remains. Again, my guess...

Also, you don't need to know Linux itself to boot it up and find that partition manager program with GUI, the menus are essentially like on the Windows, just with other colours. This program can "reset" the whole disk, including MBR. Installing Windows again without problem will/should overwrite it all anyway. However, I understand why Linux is not an option...

BUT: In any case, it would be best if you know exactly what mamaboard you have to get all the drivers you need before hand. If not, you need to run a program on windows to find that info for you, like:
https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/specportable - https://cdn.portableapps.com/specPortable.png
https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/hwinfo-portable