I have recently formatted my old windows. But now I am not able to install windows 8(actually even windows XP and seven) . When I try to boot from USB setup starts But 'Expanding windows files' (which is second step of installation) stucks at midway like at 14% or 52% or 74% i.e. at any arbitary percentage and nothing happens . Actually I am able to move my cursor but installation no more proceeds further . I have tried to format many times and to run installation but every time installation stucks at midaway WITHOUT any error .

My laptop specs are as following:
Acer aspire 5745 , 500GB HDD , 3GB RAM , intel core i3 processor .

If anyone has idea to fix this problem please do let me know . Any help will be appriciated . (SORRY if my english is poor)Hard to say. Can you please explain what you think happened to your laptop?
Did it have Windows 7? How old was it?
If the laptop had a major failure with the HDD, doing a reformat does not eliminate then problem. Did you not try the restore or repair features of the laptop? Did it have a recovery partition?

@Geek- 9pm : My laptop suddenly went extremely slow. I had windows 8.1 recently installed . So I decided to format and install 8. After formatting when I tried to install windows 8 , It took much long time than usual and not even installed successfully . Installation process was very slow and stucked at midway(in expanding windows files while installation) . Now whenever I try to install windows it stucks at midway. I does not have recovery partition. Can you suggest me anything?In other words, you had a warning that something was wrong and nyou ndecided to try Windows 8. In general, installing a new OS is not the best way to isolate a possible hardware issue.

Frankly, the best recommendation is to get another hard drive and try to install the same OS you had before. It does not have to be a new drive, just one that works. The failure rate of Hard drives is not easy to determine. Sometimes they go for years. When you system slows down, that is often a sign of coming HDD failure.

A quick check on eBay has Fujitsu 120 GB Internal 5400 RPM,2.5" for about $20 and COME with a 14 day return policy. That is a whole lot cheaper than going to a local technician, if you live in California.Where is this Win8 DVD from ? ?Ok . Thanks to all for replying . There was a problem with my HDD . So I have replaced it it with new one . The topic can now be CLOSED .