Win7Pro disc wont read or boot...

[rokosz]

On a specific machine already running win7pro. the box is from a client. I'm tired of throwing out what is probably just a need for clean install. the box is a dell from 2015. It is a w7Pro machine. If I put a dvd/cd in the drive the drive is recognized (ie shows up in explorer) and i can browse the disc. take the disc out the D: drive disappears from explorer

But, If I put the win7pro disc in the drive -- nothing in explorer. boot on the win7pro and all that appears is a cursor on a black screen in the upper left. the drive itself makes physical rhythmic noise (like the disc is damaged). But if i put the disc in a another box/drive (this one running w7hp) the disc can be browsed.

another factor which may impact this. the w7Pro disc is an MS-OEM. yes, its a legit issue and unused.

anybody know of factors that would cause a (OEM)w7p disc to not boot for install? some sort of OS cross-checking? Its been some time working with OEM discs but I don't recall any trouble at all like this. I didn't think a 2015 dvd/rw drive could be too _old_ to handle an OEM disc copyrighted 2011 (!!)
Or could the disc drive be too new? that just doesn't seem possible

thanks for your help

 

[Ranger4]

That OEM DVD is probably slightly damaged. Some DVD drives are better than others at reading a slightly damaged DVD. The damage may just be some scratches or smears.

Also remember DVDs & CDs read & write from the centre out, not from the outer edge in, which gramophone records do.

 

[Snick]

Hi rokosz,
5 Tools to Test CD or DVD Readability by Running a Surface Scan ...
Download for Win 7 ISO TechBench All editions ( pro, home premium, etc ) can be made available from any windows 7 iso - either by removing the ei.cfg file from the sources folder, or by using
eicfg_removal_utility.zip
To burn ISO Image to disk you cannot copy & paste. I use:
ImgBurn
To burn ISO to USB. I use:
Rufus 2.18 or
Rufus 2.18 Portable

 

[mrjimphelps]

Is the DVD drive IDE or SATA? I had the exact same situation as you, with Windows 7. It would read every disk, but it wouldn't run the Windows 7 install disk.

(IDE uses a flat, wide cable.)

I had an IDE DVD drive, so I swapped it with another IDE DVD drive. Same problem. I then swapped it with a SATA DVD drive. Everything worked perfectly once I installed the SATA DVD drive.

 

[AddRAM]

Put in a new drive and create a new installer, should take you less than 15 minutes.

Download the W7 Iso from here. If the PC can boot from a usb stick, just use that, it needs to be a 4GB stick.

TechBench by WZT (v4.1.1)

 

[Megahertz07]

The strange thing is that the ODD is working as a cd/dvd shows on Explorer. The Win 7 pro DVD shows on another computer but not on the Dell computer. I would say that your antivirus is blocking the access to the DVD.
What you see on disk management (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc)?
Can you boot from the Win 7 pro DVD?
What you want to do, a Repair install or a Clean install?