This might be goofy, but it could be related to the disc itself -- as in, a manufacturing defect or something. I doubt you can, but if you have another PC laying around with the same model CD or DVD drive as your friends' PC (or, really, any other PC at all, I guess) it might be worth giving it a try. Early on, especially with the first run of the retail discs, people reported some funkiness with some drives. It was usually the disc showing up blank, not crazy drive-eating-itself noises, but you never know.
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