I realised something this morning- when the installer was doing its thing, I remember it installed K-Lite Codec Pack. I already have this codec pack, and if you don't know, having more than one is bad. Installing it was the only way to progress with the program installation, so I clicked yes without really thinking about it. I also thought the installer for it would recognise that I already have it installed, and then skip it. I was wrong though, and I think that might be the cause of all of this. It's the only logical thing I can think of.
I think this might be a two part problem.
1. my monitor driver is messed up, therefore I cannot see stuff. When I plugged it in with the laptop, I was only able to see the boot screen, but nothing past that (even after going in the BIOS and setting it to "Dual" mode with monitors. So I'm thinking I will just go exchange it and get a replacement?
2. The MBR or something along those lines is messed up too, hence what appears to be multiple loads (about 7) when I first power on. That would be a lot easier to fix once I can see .
So, as disappointing, worrying, and frustrating as this is, I'm feel that we are getting to the bottom of this, and the recovery can begin. Thanks so much for your help already