Solved Windows Refresh Issue: The Media inserted is not valid

Hello, apologies as I am a novice turning to the forum for advice as I don’t know what else to do. For approximately two months my PC (details below in case it helps) has been refusing to configure Windows Updates and in the last two weeks has started to have problems installing drivers and recognising any devices via the USB slots.
I thought it might be worth trying either a PC Refresh or remove everything and reinstall Windows. The PC came with Windows 7 but I have since purchased and installed Windows 8 from disc and later installed the update to Windows 8.1. When I try to do a refresh or reset in Windows 8.1 I am advised “Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files.” I have tried using both the Windows 8 (x64) install disc and even the original Windows 7 disc that came with the PC however in all cases I get the message “The Media inserted is not valid. Make sure you’ve inserted your Windows installation or recovery media.”
I am at a loss what to do now and appreciate any help, please try to keep any advice in simple terms for this PC dullard J
PC Summary:
Operating System
MS Windows 64-bit
CPU
Intel Pentium E5700 @ 3.00GHz 34 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
8.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 398MHz (6-6-6-15)
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 018D1Y (CPU 1)
Graphics
DELL ST2420L @ 1920x1080
AMD Radeon HD 5450
Hard Drives
977GB Seagate ST31000528AS (SATA) 36 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N
Audio
ATI High Definition Audio Device

JDH said:

The PC came with Windows 7 but I have since purchased and installed Windows 8 from disc and later installed the update to Windows 8.1. When I try to do a refresh or reset in Windows 8.1 I am advised “Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files.”

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Quote from this post:

If you don't have an OEM PC that came with Windows 8 preinstalled and you updated Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, then when you refresh or reset Windows, it will reinstall Windows 8.1, but only if you have Windows 8.1 USB/DVD installation media.

Note: You must insert Windows 8.1 USB/DVD installation media. See this link: How to download Windows 8.1 installation media.

If you don't insert any installation media or if you insert Windows 8 USB/DVD installation media, then you receive the following error message: "Insert Media. Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files." (see screenshot below).

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I do not know if this will be viewed as it it and older thread. I made a recovery USB flash according to the accepted steps a year or more ago. When I insert the flash at the point in the image above I get the report that the media is invalid. If this is so I have no way to refresh or restore this fairly new, 2 years on 8.1, computer? What is the reason for this error report? Thanks! Jack {":-\\

I just did some more reading. I might be up the creek without the paddle. I believe it's possible this recovery was made under 8.0 and in between time I upgraded to 8.1. Has this a error effect? Sometime after I made the recovery USB flash I accidentally erased over the recover partition on the HD but everyone said I was lucky I'd made a backup on the USB Flash. Is it now rendered unusable because the pc is 8.1 and the recovery stick is 8.0? Sheesh!