I can't reactivate Cubase 7 after reinstall of program

Hi guys,
I have been using Cubase elements 7 on my PC, i5, 8gigs ram, windows 7. suddenly and for no apparent reason the program became increasingly slow upon start up. Until finally no project would load at all. I found numerous articles that it is most likely a plug-in causing this problem. However, when I labeled the VST folders as hidden so that cubase wouldn’t recognize them, it didn’t change anything. So I decided to uninstall and reinstall the program. So I re-downloaded Cubase 7 from the steinberg website and tried to activate it. However, when I go to the steinberg website to request a new activation key, it asks for a new soft-elicense code. When I go to my elicense program, the code is still the old code. I don’t see a way to generate a new code…I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling the eliscense program and the same old soft-elicense code pops up again. I shouldn’t have to reinstall the whole operating system just to generate a new code!!! Is this because I didn’t download Cubase Elements 7 specifically, because I didn’t see a download for that, only Cubase 7. Does anyone know how to solve this problem.
Thanks,
Adam

well the obvious thing is that you are dealing with 2 different programs (cubase 7 and cubase elements 7),
to move from elements into the full version you need to pay for that upgrade,
maybe steinberg could send you the installation dvd since you cannot find the download on their website ?