Wanted to reinstall windows on an old pc, but keep getting bootmgr missing.

As the title says, Im trying to install windows on an old laptop. I have tried installing windows to the drive via my desktop, via usb, and via disk. The hard drive works fine in my desktop, but no matter what how I try to boot the laptop it just says bootmgr missing. I have spent hours trying to figure this out. I even bought dvd-rs in an attempt to boot from disk. so Im all ears. If anyone has any ideas I'd love to know them. Thanks ahead of time guys!