First I tried using the 32-bit wubi.exe installer from the main Ubuntu website. It worked fine, dual booted with Windows 7 and all. I tried installing several applications and got errors. After searching for a little while for a fix, I found that someone else had solved the problem by uninstalling the 32-bit version and installing 64-bit Ubuntu.
Apparently there is no wubi.exe installer for the 64-bit version, so I used LinuxLive to put the iso file onto a USB drive. I changed my the boot order in BIOS to check the USB first. It did, and I got into the Ubuntu installer just fine.
Everything was working fine, but then I got an error that GRUB could not be installed. I chose "install manually later" or something like that. Immediately, the installer said it was done and ready for a reboot. At this point, my USB is still in the computer. The computer reboots...and it's back at the installer for the USB. I look up what's going on here, and someone says in a thread they solved it by selecting "Try Ubuntu" then installing it via a shortcut on the desktop. I assumed that Ubuntu simply hadn't installed and it would be safe to try again, so I did. It finished installing, this time I chose a different partition that wasn't being used. The thread also said to reinstall grub to the mounted drive, so I did that.
Next I took out my USB and rebooted. I get stuck on the GRUB GNU loader, v.1.99 or something I believe it says at the top. I can't do anything, and it doesn't detect Windows 7 OR Ubuntu. When I check partitions, I have two 43 GB partitions that both have the same files in them (I'm assuming those are the two Ubuntu installations), and can only run Ubuntu off of my USB-- and can't run Windows 7 at all, however from within Ubuntu the windows 7 filesystem and files can still be seen.
I have no idea what to do now. I used Ubuntu in the past (9.xx) and never had these sorts of problems! Please help. And sorry for the wall of text.
