I say change the boot order in the BIOS. It's has always been the "delete" or or "F2" everytime i rebuild a new pc. On a rare occasion F12 i suppose. Everytime i try the other method doesn't seem to work... the BIOS always works for me.

Are you able to get into a BIOS screen like below? - F2 or delete button and soon as you see black screen when PC is starting up (basically after you touch power button always works for me) -


When you get to the BIOS look for a boot order screen like below - you'll have to do some digging but you'll just poke around but don't change settings you don't understand - Move CD to first boot device.


Move the CD-ROM to the top of the order and have XP in drive. Escape and save and if the drive works should boot to CD. If you've done this method already then something is not right.... use this method all the time and it just flat out works.....