Windows 7 installation hangs on Setup is starting

[TTDTK]

I was away from my computer for most of the day and when I returned windows crashed.

I decided to reinstall the same windows 7 OS over the broken one, but I get stuck at "setup is starting" and the cursor is the blue rotating circle.

I went through a bunch of threads for solutions but none worked.

Note: not going to format HDD

 

[RaDiKaL_]

It could be a scratched dvd, a faulty optical drive or a failing HDD (which could explain the crash you experienced before), still, there's a lot of thing to check before jumping into conclusions, start by making sure your optical drive and windows dvd are working properly. Test another dvd (like a Live OS) to see if the optical drive is not faulty, then test your dvd in another known working drive.