Ok new problem

[SPKmes]

Following on from this

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,294020.0.html

Ok...now I got things to go...all good but while windows was trying to install (after format) it was having trouble installing things....it would ask to try again..or skip...I would try twice to retry then skip (at this point I knew there was trouble but I kept on)...this happened to a lot of things..So now it has run through and comes up with the pages stating that it is about to install windows...Error message (fatal hahah) now I had a feeling this would happen...no worries maybe a bad disc..(it looks good but I tried many times with the same issue)....I decided to try another windows installation disc I have...but this one will not boot up...I put the disc I originally used and it boots up and runs through the set up (same issues over and over)

If I turn on the PC it will show the windows logo....and go to the windows installation page and then come up with the  'Fatal error' message again.

long story short...the PC has no operating system complete on it...it will not collect all required data from the disc I first used...any other windows disc will not boot up ... and I am beyond my knowledge base on how this works...
Can I wipe a hard disc?...can a hard disc get a memory?.....my son is about to see my foot go through his pC box ..not really but I am getting frustrated with it...and I need to get this running as soon as I can and look like I know what I'm doing  ..Actually he told me to ask you guys...he knows how you have helped me before...

[Tigger29]

It could be the CD drive itself.

Are you installing from an oringinal windows disk, or is it a copy of one?

I've made corrupt copies in the past by burning it too fast.. and it causes issues just like that.  I set burning speed to 1X and then don't have a problem.

You can also try copying the windows disk onto a flash drive and installing it that way.

[SPKmes]

It is an original disc...hmmm dodgy drive...Can I change a disc drive with out an OS and have it work?  I have a few of them spare....or perhaps I will copy to flash as you have said...I take it I need to save as an ISO file?

[Kermit de frog]

try doing a memory test.  It couldn't hurt.

google:
memtest86

download the bootable version, create the disk and perform a memory test 2-3 times.  If you have bad memory, sometimes it is just 1 of 2 sticks that you can pull out the bad stick.  Sometimes by simply pulling out the memory stick it fixes the problem as the pulling out process cleans the contacts.

It could be a poor optical drive or it's cable needs to be reseated, or some the drive needs to be cleaned on the inside.

Or it is simply a bad OS disk.

Or a faulty mobo or Power supply......or bad static in room, faulty electrical wiring in home, or air conditioner is on same circuit as PC or Sun spots.......or....

[BaldEagl]

Sounds to me like either a memory or optical disc problem.  If you've got an old disc drive around it should work.  If there's more than one memory stick try one at a time or if you have access to another computer D/L Memtest and run it (it boots from an ISO image) then test all, then one memory stick at a time.

[Bizman]

I once had similar difficulties with a customer's machine. Neither of the two CD it had drives managed with the installation. A fresh one from the package did the trick. After the installation both of the original drives seemed to work normally, though. As has already been said, it could also be any other component failing: Memory (some MOBO's can't use double sided RAM sticks in every slot, check the manual for how many stick sides it supports), motherboard, IDE/SATA cables (the latter seem to have quality issues), PSU... But I'd first try with another drive and cables.

Yes, you can freely change an optical drive without having any OS. The hardware doesn't even matter, whether it's a CD or DVD drive.