laptop will boot windows cd but not linux

[TanisHalfElven]

just bought a used e500. 900 MHz p3 and 256 mb ram. i'm trying to install linux but it won't boot from the linux cds. i've tried ubuntu. then i tried some live cds like system rescue cd and DSL and they also won't boot.

however when i try to boot from the win xp cd it works.

edit.
HELP.