Three partitions, can't install/format

Several sources on various sites have reported similar issues. The most common answer that many have agreed to have solved this problem is that the media that you are using to install Windows needs to be re-burned at a slower burning speed.

Is this is genuine Windows DVD? If you have the ISO and burned your own media, either burn it a slower speed, or use a USB device to install from.

It's a copy of the original, which is official and paid for, and safely kept in the City Hall's vault for some reason... It's also the one we're using for the Library's computers with no failed installations so far. I think it might be the dvd drive that stops responding at some point.

Ok so if you have already tested this media on other computers and you havent encountered an issue, I would agree that this media is likely to be good. OR, the DVD player in that particular computer isnt able to read that media burned at that speed, OR as you suggest.. there could be a problem with the DVD drive itself.

its fairly easy and quick to swap out the DVD drive and test again.

You can try to install with the original window 7 DVD to see whether the DVD drive is working before proceed to changing the DVD drive.

kept in the City Hall's vault for some reason

That means I can't absolutely, under no circumstance, get my hands on it...

Anyway, I switched disks. This one has the same three partitions mentioned on the original post which is a pain.

Same error with the cd.

Time to gut the machine.

Apparently the problem solved itself overnight...?

I switched on the pc today without doing anything to it, and it is now ready to be returned with a fresh copy of Win7. And it's working fine, too...

Its probably the DVD drive going bad. I wouldnt worry about it, but make a note in case the user reports a similar problem in the future.

I'm just happy because this computer was in really bad shape and I managed to salvage it from the bin :)

"safely kept in the City Hall's vault for some reason"
Gosh. Just... gosh. Microsoft has an official download site for the W7 installer flavours. Free....

We have strict orders to only use what they give us. Being an unpaid internship, I do as they tell me, otherwise my grade can go down on accounts of "not doing what was told". So, I couldn't care less really...

"Being an unpaid internship, I do as they tell me, otherwise my grade can go down"
Oh dear, would that mean that then you pay them? Just what ladder rung are you on? Ah... you're holding it...
No need to answer... :) We all start somewhere.

It's part of my course. Instead of making a huge final project, I'm having this internship with a written report at the end.

-shrugs-

Right. I have never resolved whether the stress of being assessed on points-heavy projects or major examinations was a valid test of work-readiness. Your real-world performance assessment is rather like the internship doctors must go through. Good luck with it.

Looking at the partitions on the 2nd screen cap, I seriously doubt that this was a DVD/DVD drive issue. This looks more like something to do with the partitions going awry. The "System Reserved" and "Boot" paritions are created by the OS when installed and are usually hidden and should not be visible. I would instead try to clean the entire hard drive using the diskpart command. Heaven knows I've resolved a number of such issues using diskpart. If anyone wants to know the exact commands, let me know and I'd be happy to elaborate :)

Hello!
Well, this question has already been solved, but I would like to have the exact diskpart commands Mr Goldeagle2005. Thanks!