How do I install Windows Vista in my R500 that I just put a new hard drive into?

I was given an R500 that had the hard drive removed by the previous owner for security reasons. I bought a charger and a new hard drive and intended to install Windows Vista that I bought a while ago and never used. I charged up the battery. The battery is good. I installed the hard drive. I'm pretty sure I got that right. Then I turned on the laptop. I expected to see a menu giving me some hint as to what to do next but all I see is ThinkPad in big white letters and underneath "To interrupt normal startup, press the blue ThinkVantage button." I stared at the screen for a while and then pushed the blue ThinkVantage button. Nothing happened. I opened the disc drive and put in the installation disk thinking that should bring up a menu. It didn't. Nothing happened.
I'm reasonably experienced with computers and have installed hardware and operating systems before but this has my stymied.
Anybody have any idea about how this is supposed to work?

Actually, I tried that and nothing worked. Couldn't get past the opening screen. Fortunately, I have several other Thinkpads of various models that I got for a few bucks each (without hard drives) from a business that was replacing all their laptops. I pulled the hard drive out and put it in another R500 and, after a few fits and starts, got Vista up and running and then found out that the touchpad was flakey and the mouse pointer would freeze. All the USB ports were broken so I couldn't use my wireless mouse. Out came the hard drive and my next try was in an R61. Funny thing. Vista opened right up but there's no touchpad on the R61. (You can tell I'm new to Thinkpads.) Took me a few minutes of scratching my head and googling to figure out that the red button moves the mouse pointer on the screen. Now I have one good one so far and I'll see how many of the others I can make work.
Thanks for your help.

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