Cannot boot from cd in dos

I'll try to explain my problem as good as possible.

I am trying to make a dual boot system of my laptop. I have XP on it (Home) which works fine but I wanted to play a few games that don't work under XP (not even after trying every possibility in compatibility) so I decided to install an earlier windows version which does play those games but when I insert the Windows cd and say I want to start from cd my player doesn't do a thing. All I see is a flashing bar as if I could type anything but I can't. This is my sysspecs:

Intel P4 2.8Ghz
512 Mb RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64Mb
60Gb hard disk
Currently WinXp Home which runs just fine

Hope somebody knows the solution. Thanks in advance.

Fotgot to mention: My DVD drive works fine in Windows.

Win98 and ME have to boot from a Floppy when installing. I'd actaully take the time to look for WinXP patches for the older games you want to play.

Plus you can't install Win98 or ME on a computer after you have put 2000/XP on there. Its that fun FAT32/NTSF deal.

What games do you want to play that won't work in XP?

My WinXP cd won't boot either nor does my NAV 2004 cd. And I was planning on formatting anyway, since right now it's one big 60Gb drive which I dislike.

One of my most favorite games I wanted to play is Might & Magic 7 but no matter how hard I try it won't run under XP. And if I had more space (and monitors) I'd use an older pc for those games.

Do you have your CD Rom set as first boot in the Bios?

Either way. You have to install Win 98/ME first on you computer. You can find boot disk files by looking up Windows Boot Disk on Google.com.

Install Win 98 or ME. Then Install XP. XP should give you an option of keeping your pervious OS. But I am not sure because I don't use XP.


Correct me if I'm Wrong...?

XP will ask to keep the older version of windows, but the problem is: I insert my cd, it asks me if I want to boot from cd or hd I choose cd and then it simply hangs. Tried changing the cd-rom drive to first and removable drives second and so on but nothing resulted in a success.

You need a third party dual boot/partition manager like System Commander to make it work.