Open Firmware Can't boot my WinXP install disc (although the OS sees it)

So I've been unable to play ANY games on my MacBook Pro under Crossover (games that worked fine under my old 1.8Ghz MacBook Pro) because I get all sorts of weird graphical rendering issues.
So I thought I'd reboot into windows, install the games there, and see if the problems were related to Crossover or not.
So I launch Bootcamp Assistant to install Windows XP. I pop in the Windows XP disc (under MacOSX) and I see the disc and all the installer files, and I click to reboot into the Windows installer.
The laptop reboots and when it comes up I can hear it trying to read the cd. I can hear it switching speedings up and down and moving the read headers. But it never starts the installer, instead it spits out the disc and prompts me to insert a bootable disc.
Problem is I know this disc works. I've used it many times. And back over under MacOSX it reads the disc just fine.
So I know this "new" laptop I got from work was actually refurbished, and I think they messed with it. Specifically I wonder if they mess with the open firmware. Because again, MacOSX (the software) could see and read the disc just fine. But when I'm in the open firmware loader it can't read the disc.
Also, if I hold down Option at boot time, I get the option to select my WindowsXP disc because it sees it, but again, it can't load it...
Is this a 32-bit/64-bit issue? I don't know. All I know is I can't boot my XP CD to install XP....
Is there a way for me to reinstall the open firmware?

I've now tried my buddy's WindowsXP SP2 disc and the first time, it loaded the windows installer (boot and held down Option and selected the disc) but the install failed. On reboot the windows partition will not boot.
So I tried again, and now his disc and responding the same way my disc responds.
I reboot, hold down Option, select the Windows XP disc, and then the screen goes black. I hear it trying different speeds to read the disc, then finally it stops and spits the disc back out and tells me to insert a bootable disc.
So that's two separate WindowsXP install discs. Both are known to work.
So why can this drive see the disk and files just fine under MacOSX -but not- under the EFI bootloader?? And yes I've tried resetting the NVRAM/PRAM.
Message was edited by: general_error

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