I'm real new at this. Here goes,
I just installed Linux(RedHat) and mistakenly erased my windows partition(no big deal). So now I'm just running Linux and want to re-install Win XP. However, I have tried rebooting with Windows XP cd in the cdrom drive with no success. Linux boots up with no option to do anything else. I have read the documentation which states that windows should be installed first in a dual boot setup, but I'm unable to get the system to recognize that the windows cd is in the drive. I'm at a loss as to how to go forward.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

You have to enter the machine's setup (bios) and tell it to boot from the cd, which apparently, its not doing.
Once you did this, the machine will probe the cd drive for a boot cd before start to load linux. Any bootable cd you put there will load, including xp.

I tried that several times. It's not working. THe linux installation boots up automatically. The RedHat Documentation says to:
boot: linux expert
then choose install and then when prompted to partition, choose fdisk., then remove linux partitions and then quit.
When I tried this, I never got the chance to choose fdisk.
What I need is to get at a DOS prompt where I should be able to use fdisk. But that option is not being made available to me when I reboot.

did u try to boot from the floopy. select from bios to boot sequence fdd first. this or the cd thing has to work cuz before lilo/grub starts the floppy/cd has to checked . u got my point. some mistake in the bios take a look at it carfully. select in boot sequence "first boot device "" either floppy or cd .

check this and come back

regards santosh