shinobi_dude ,

I may be missing something here as I would have thought a DVD reader should be able to read and boot as a CD rom.

You will have a fundamental problem of getting Linux into the laptop if you can't boot from a CD or a USB device. When Grub is booted it has no kernel for detecting the USB devices and so the only chance it can sense the presence of a USB device is by the information handed down by the Bios. This information is only made available if the mobo has "USB lagacy support" and has been "enabled". Otherwise the Bios has no information of the USB device and Grub has no chance of booting it.

You could opt for a special Linux like Puppy which can be rolled into a fat16 file when not in use. Install it on the USB device and use WIndows to copy it into the hard disk in a fat16 partition. That way your current Grub can boot up this special version of Linux. From Pupply you may ultimately achieve the installation of other Linux because it is possible to install a Linux directly off an iso file (say downloaded from Windows via Internet) by mounting it as a loopback device to fully expand it in a proper filing system in its own partition. Many Linux from the Knoppix family can be installed this way and I achieved the quickest way of 6 minutes to install a Linux was done this way. Basicially you use Grub to fire up the installation by replacing the isolinux embedded with the iso.