bootmgr missing????

Hi :)

Just boot up from the Cd/dvd to the menu with "Try Ubuntu without changes to this machine", if you don't get that menu then this guide might help
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD
Choosing the "Try Ubuntu ... " option should get you to a working desktop which we call a "LiveCd session", if it works ;) Most versions of linux have this feature although they don't all have such a fancy menu. Ubuntu's LiveCd has firefox on the top taskbar and should have worked out your internet connection so having got a LiveCd session working you should be able to surf around and check that Ubuntu is going to work easily on the machine. More to the point you will find that the "Places" menu gives you access to all your files. Also if you let me know when you get this working then we can work at fixing your grub-boot-loader as per these guidelines
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Oh and i tend to find the cheapest "write once" type cds that can only be bought in packs of 10 or more are loads better for this purpose than more expensive cds and dvds often turn into coasters. I would guess that your dvd is ok although if you can it might be worth trying a very cheap cd. Also this guide sometimes helps
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
and of course checking the md5sum is a good plan for when you can leave the machine to get on with doing that for a coffee break.

Good luck! I hope something here helps!
Regards from
Tom :)

Once you get to a LiveCd session then we can help yu install it as a dual-boot
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
either onto the same physical hard-drive as Windows (easiest) or on a different drive which isn't really covered in that documentation but is easy enough to guide someone through and then edit the boot menu to point at the real location of bootmgr which Vista (perhaps other Windows too) has just started trying to hide.

Right, that should about cover it. Please let us know how it's going and which way you want to proceed - either separate hard-drives or same one.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

If installing form the external HD you'll need to specify it to boot from, as the Windows bootloader can sometimes be very confused (giving the "bootmgr missing" message) when there's another NTFS drive attached by USB that's different from the one it's located on. By specifying the external drive in the BIOS, you can bypass Windows's loader and avoid the message.

However, I would suggest that taking Tom's advice and simply burning to a cheap CD would likely be a better path - use the EHD only if that doesn't work for some reason.