I can't guarantee my suggestions will cure your problems, but it sounds like you have skipped the most basic and required software and driver installations. All of the other driver installations depend upon one of these to identify the platform and install things correctly. You did not mention these things, so I can only assume they were not done.

Your board's Windows 7 download page is here:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H170M%20Pro4/?cat=Download&os=Win764

First and foremost is the Intel INF file installation program, the INF driver ver:10.1.1.38 installation program from your board's download page. I'm sure it also exists on your driver disk. This installation program must always be run FIRST, before anything else.

INF stands for Information files, that identify and provide other information about the Intel hardware in a mother board. Without these files, the other driver and software installation programs don't get the complete picture of the system. You should be prompted to restart the PC after the INF file installer is complete, do not skip that step.

Next is the Intel Management Engine driver ver:11.6.0.1126, which must be installed second, after the INF files. What this does varies depending upon the chipset and processor in the board, but is an essential installation for any Intel system.

After those two, there is no specific order of driver/software installation. If you did not run both of these installation programs, do that now. After that, you should run all the other installation programs you have already run, to be sure they were installed correctly. When you run them, if it asks if you want to install the driver again, or possibly repair it, select Yes. The network diriver MUST be installed again.

Windows will normally activate itself if the network connection is working correctly. I wonder if that is even true. You may need to install Firefox and Chrome again, and possibly configure your network connection after the network driver is installed again.

You are no where near the stage of returning the mother board. We know very little specifically about your hardware, such as if your memory is compatible with your board. We need the full model number of your memory.

The one thing that caught my eye is the OCZ Solid 3 SSD. Not known as a high quality SSD, sorry to say, and was sold only for a short time. In the UEFI/BIOS, Advanced > Storage Configuration screen, did you change any options in that screen? The SATA mode MUST be AHCI with an SSD. Also, the entry for the SSD in that screen has an option to set the Drive Type. By default it is set to HDD, please set it to SSD.

I would also consider using a new SATA data cable.
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Thanks again for the thoughts.  So last night I again did a fresh install of windows 7 (actually this time from a USB stick rather than the original disc).  The USB version had some updates slipstreamed into it - including miscrosoft usb 3.0 drivers and microsoft NVMe drivers, but the install still didn't see the NVMe drive as an option to install to.  So instead I again installed to the ssd.  That went smoothly and I was up and running in a few minutes.  Installed first the INF driver from the motherboard disc, rebooted, and then installed the ME drivers as you suggested.  From there I got the rest of the drivers installed from the link you provided, with the network drivers last. 

Same results - once I connected a network cable and tried to do anything online (either windows update or going to a website) the computer would totally freeze just as it had before.  Had to manually shut down and restart.  It did this a few times.  I could do anything else on the computer - like play a hand of solitaire, but once I tried to do anything online it would freeze immediately. 

So I installed drivers for a usb network adapter I had, disabled the wired network adapter and connected to my wifi - worked like a charm, though it was very slow as the dongle would only pick up my 2.4ghz signal, which was pretty weak.  Anyway, I was able to download and install a few rounds of Windows Updates (did a big run overnight).  So this morning I unplugged the dongle and enabled the wired adapter again - same results, immediate freeze up.

Any further suggestions would be most helpful!!  Thanks!

Thank you for the reply!  Yes, those other drivers were installed, but not in the order you suggest.  Can that be done at this point (reinstalled I guess, in the order you list), or should I just start over with a new install of Windows and then install the drivers in the order your list?

Because I'm installing from a disc, and using usb keyboard and mouse - I have to set the usb to work like ps/2 in bios.  The reason I did the network and usb drivers first was so that I could install the most recently downloaded drivers (that you linked) via a USB stick, or downloaded to the machine.  Apparently I should have done the INF driver and then the IME drivers first - but the only way I could do that would be from the mobo driver CD (which are somewhat older versions).  Any issues with that?

Yes, the BIOS is set like that (AHCI and SSD) in bios.  Really I'm just using this ssd to get everything set up on, and then (hopefully) can image the full drive to an NVMe drive as trying to get Windows installed on it directly has been a nightmare (using altered iso file on usb stick).  Nothing has worked, so I'm going about it this way now.

Brand new install of Windows 7 64bit on an h170m pro4 mobo (installed via disc with usb/ps trick in bios).  Install went smoothly, then installed usb 3.0 and LAN drivers from cd included with mobo - thinking that once those two things are good I can get online and download updated drivers to install, or transfer them to computer via usb drive if downloaded to another computer.  Within 10 seconds or so of opening up an internet browser (in this case IE) the computer will completely freezes and will need to be turned off from power button - no activity on screen and mouse won't respond.  Ended up unplugging network cable and installing all drivers directly from disc and then reconnecting network cable to the same result - homepage will open up and I may be able to navigate to another page for a few short seconds before the computer will lock up again and need to be manually turned off and restarted.

I was able to also install firefox and google chrome - some results once open.  Will also happen if I attempt windows update (it sees that there are updates available, but will freeze when I begin downloading them).

Only things connected to mobo are 8gb memory stick, CPU, one optical dvd drive, and one ssd (ocz solid 3 I believe).  Windows is not yet "activated" (didn't want to do that until I verify everything is working correctly). 

Why is this happening?  Is this a software issue or hardware?  Might I need to return/replace the mobo?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.