HP DVD1260i spitting out DVD's after 1-5%

[vickan240sx]

I am trying to burn the windows 7 boot-up disk to install the OS, but my DVD burner is spitting out the ISO after 1-5% into the burning process saying that the burning failed. I tried using NERO 8 to burn the ISO, but I'm getting the same problem. I tried lowering the burning speed but I have not had any luck. NERO tells me that there's a connection failure.

Could this be because I am not using the SATA cable that came with the burner? I am using one of my SATA cables that came with my DFI LANPARTY UT nf4 SLI-DR motherboard.

Your help is appreciated.



Also, I tried using a burned DVD that my friend used to install his windows 7, but when I go to type in my activation KEY, it tells me that my windows SKU number doesn't match up with the activation key. Could this be caused by the DVD not being burned by me?

 

[tortnotes]

The SATA cable should have no effect--either your software is screwing up, you have an entire batch of bad media, or the drive is failing. Without knowing any more I suspect the drive.
In the meantime, you can still install Win 7 off a flash drive as explained here by Microsoft: http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool