Cannot Connect to MySQL

[Matthew Baile]

I've just downloaded the MySQL package and ran the installer. Everything went fine and I was able to dwonload the full package; server, workbench, etc. During set-up I received an error saying that I could not configure properly. I opened the Workbench program and double clicked on the "Local MySQL"option under server administration. The program instructs me that the database server has "stopped". The info is as follows:

Name: Local MySQL
Host: localhost
Server: unknown
Status: Stopped

When I click "start", I received an error message and the following log:

2013-09-12 21:43:24 - Workbench will use cmd shell commands to start/stop this instance
2013-09-12 21:43:24 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped
2013-09-12 21:43:24 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped
2013-09-12 21:43:27 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped
2013-09-12 21:43:27 - Starting server...
2013-09-12 21:43:28 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped
2013-09-12 21:43:29 - Server start done.
2013-09-12 21:43:29 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned start pending
2013-09-12 21:44:08 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped
2013-09-12 21:44:08 - Status check of service 'MySQL' returned stopped

I am running on a Windows 7 PC using the server and workbench from the same machine. I'm quite new to this but please help! Many thanks!