Computer will not boot from any disc

Computer will not boot from any disc

I am trying to fix someone's computer. They have Windows 7, and my plan
was to just reinstall. However it appears the computer will not boot from
any disc. I have tried
Hiren boot CD
Lucid Puppy Linux
Windows 64-bit
Windows 32-bit
Parted magic
In each case it reads the disc, and starts the boot process, but does not
finish. For example with Lucid Puppy Linux Live CD, I will see
boot:
Loading vmlinuz.....
Loading initrd.gz...
Then the screen will turn black and stay that way forever. If you boot the
computer without any discs the computer will stop at
Starting Windows
same with Safe Mode.