Unable to locate Operating system

I tried setting up Debian GNU linux on my laptop and during teh install I went to partition my HD and set windows xp to boot along with debian and I was unallowed to dual boot with xp and debian on the master boot record and to dual boot at the same time.... therefore I set debian on the master boot record, wrote the changes to disk with xp as not-booted and restarted my computer as directed. However, when I start up now I get error "Error Loading Operating System". What the hell did I do to my computer? Can I configure teh kernal to reboot XP and add it as bootable to the MBR?
Desparate, help!?!?!

I don't really follow you. Did you or did you not install GRUB or LILO on you MBR, and in case you did, how was it configured? How were you "unallowed" to dual boot? Also, do you get any boot loader before you get "Error Loading Operating System"?

they didnt give me a chance to install anything after i made the partition; it just auto restarted..<odd>....but I ended up fixing it last night... but I still can't boot the Debian CD