Windows starts up and runs with the Windows xp disk in

[booster54]

I have a dell inspiron 1501 my system crashed & I had to install windows xp, my vista restore disk didn't work, after going through the setup process I removed the XP disk and restarted my computer it came back on with the message that no operating system found! I put xp disk in and to my amazement windows started up and runs as long as i have the Windows xp disk in the cdrom. Can anyone help me? thank you for your help.

 

[renniz]

If you have a regular Vista install disc, you can tell it to install Windows on the same drive, but keep the old OS. This will repair your master boot record and keep your files in windows.old along with the program files and the old user accounts. This starts you over, but keeps your data.
If you have a Dell restore disc, it will want to wipe the drive and bring it back to factory specs. There may have been a hidden partition that got wiped that it would have used to restore but couldn't find and failed.
A third option is to mount the drive on another system and repair or back it up. You would need an external enclosure.
Have you called Dell?