vostro 1220 and missing bootmngr

Hi.

I'll try real hard to be as brief as possible:

Vostro 1220 - Vista - preloaded recovery partition - (backup recovery dvd set made earlier)

laptop user hd potential virus (unchecked but user was subject to recent fraud, so we decided to reinstall from the backup dvd)

All seemed no problem until restart after recovery completion.

"bootmgr is missing"

Tried start up repair another recovery and variations of the bootrec /fixboot, also ran chkdsk /f. F8 does not give any recovery options. So at present I am stuck as to know exactly what to do. I was about to take out the HD and format it on but the removal process is too long and tedious (it's not my own so I dont want to add to any issues)

I also tried to install from an XP cd and it blue screens (both times)...

Any advice?