Your Win 7 is NOT genuine + no motherboard for you?

I recall the NOT genuine notice mentioned build 7001. That's an odd no. Mine from memory is about 7601. 7001 seems too old. And her PC is younger than mine.

That number does seem strange, an original Win 7 install will be build 7600 changing to 7601 after SP1 has been installed.

Regards the blinking cursor it sounds like you are trying to boot from the blank HDD and not the DVD drive which is what you will need to do if you are trying to install a new copy of Win 7 onto the blank HDD

You can change the boot order in the bios to read DVD first before HDD or there is normally an F key you can press on startup to give you a one time boot menu that will let you select to boot from Win disk

I get Mr. blinky after i go F12 & select HDD or CD-ROM. Both fail. Do i need to go into net bios & not just pick something to boot from screen?

To be clear though, "Young PC" or "Old PC" does not have any bearing with your OS build. It will get the build you decide to install it with.

As Pauly have mentioned, you must change your boot priority via your BIOS so it's not booting from the empty HDD. Can you make these changes?

Hooray. Its OK. I was using a generic plug for the DVD & not the one assigned to it. I''m reformatting. now!! :)

Going forward, please add full OS images to your twice-weekly routine. If nonGenuine-ness ever is from malware, a restore will be the fastest way to solve a malware-caused nonGenuine messge.