I actually I thought of that after I posted. I'll look into adding the CD drivers. Also I realized that I was using a x64 computer to make the disks and the computer I was trying to run it on with "CD only btw without an HD hooked up" is a x86 computer. And I did think about CD drivers in the back of my head. yes the startup was A:
can anyone say multiple operating systems I'm thinking I need to make another partition with x86. Is that a possibility? But then I think the dl from allaboutdisks would have been x86. Of course DOS woudn't have CD drivers, and "not sure if I remember" Win98 might not of either. And it is/was a DVD. So, XP may or may not have recognized it either. and then theres the x64 factor.
Will try again, thank you for the thoughts.