Vista Ultimate SP1 x86 on Dell XPS 410?

I've been working with these machines since 1994, and I have never seen such
an anomalie.

Usually, I would build my own machine, but I was lazy and bought a Dell XPS
410. It came with Vista Home Premium.

Now, I find myself needing to get on a test domain, so I downloaded the x86
Vista Ultimate SP1 DVD iso. Burned it and tried to boot from it. All I get is
a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top-left corner.

If I take the same exact disc and put it in the server I built, it works
just fine. But if I take the restore disc for this Dell XPS 410, it can boot
up with it, and a different Vista disc as well.

I call Dell, and sure enough, I go through 3 techs, and finally they point
me back at Microsoft. Hmmm, I *think* this issue has *something* to do with
their proprietary SATA (EISA) drive configuration, or lack of non-OEM OS boot
disk support, but these are just guesses.

Can anyone put an end to my nightmare?? Please!?