"BOOTMGR is missing"

[thomis]

Gregrocker
you are talking about the hard drive when you say HD I presume.. Is this something a novice like me can replace? I searched for one on ebay and this is what I found. Is this what I need and can it make the laptop work like new again?

320GB Hard Drive for DELL Inspiron 1545 1546 1564 1720 1721 1750 1764 1570 1318 | eBay

 

[gregrocker]

It looks good to me but I'd search for other choices including at a shop, and wait to hear from those more expert in hardware.

Here are videos I found for replacing it on your model:

 

[thomis]

Gregrocker
I got an external CD drive to burn the HD manufacturer's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to a cd. (Removed the hard drive and saw that its a Seagate...)
I downloaded it from the link you provided and copy and pasted it to the cd. I booted the cd into the damaged Dell laptop and changed the bios to boot from cd. Nothing happened. I suspect that the method I used to copy and paste the iso file to my cd was not correct. What is the correct method to do this?

 

[gregrocker]

Use an image burner like Windows Image Burner or ImgBurn.

 

[thomis]

OK, I ran the manufacturer's HD diagnostic. The HD is shot. I'll order another. I'm sure I'll be back here with questions for installing Windows. I plan on using the usb flash stick I have the Windows Installtion on.
Many thanks for all of your help.

 

[gregrocker]

Stick with these steps to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which assure you'll get and maintain a perfect reinstall.