Inspiron 1525, can't restore

[DellHater]

I have tried everything I can think of. And i'm lost when it comes to DOS.I don't know if it's a virus or just a crap HDD. Every time i try to install windows XP, when it goes to setup, the progress bar stays at zero, and i mean stays there I let it stay at 0 for three days. I keep getting messages when i do various things that say BOOTMGR is missing, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart. I don't know how to do partitions, and i don't wanna kill this. I payed $1500 for this pc and dell won't do anything to help me. Any ideas? Tutorials to restore through partitions. Any help at all would be appreciated.

[SpywareDr]

Set your computer to boot from CD/DVD (using the Boot setting in the BIOS), insert your Windows Vista disc and restart. Vista will prompt you for language and keyboard layout options, then ask if you want to reinstall Vista or repair your installation. You want Startup Repair:

Vista's System Recovery Tool will take over from there.

[Shinma]

You can refer to pages 267, 268, 269... of the Dell Technology Guide manual.

[P3-450]

I would also run the dell diagnostics on the hard drive (page 281 from the guide Shinma posted).

If the drive fails then report the error code to dell and they should replace the hdd if the system is still under warranty.

[DellHater]

Well, im tryingto locate my vista disk atthe moment. And i have ran dell diagnostics multiple times, and one of the error codes is 2000-0146. I'm not sure if that would mean a crap HD or what. Thank you all for the help, I will try everything here and post my results when i'm done.

[SpywareDr]

... one of the error codes is 2000-0146. I'm not sure if that would mean a crap HD or what.

Dell Solution Network: Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Wizard
Troubleshooting With PSA Diagnostics on a Laptop Computer
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...&treeid=345518

PSA+ 2000-0146

DST Log contains previous error(s).