Problems installing Linux

I am trying to install to install Linux on an old HP with a 466Mhz Celery and 64 Mb of memory. I tried the commerical version of LinSpire with no success / it didn’t have all the OS’s requirements and would hang during install. I have also tried downloadable versions of Debian and Fedora Core without much success. I normally download the OS onto my laptop and burn a CD-RW and try to install that on my desktop. The problem I am running into is when I put the disk in and restart the machine it does not seem to pick the disk as a system disk. I have checked my BIOS and made sure that the boot order boots from the CD-ROM first. I would really like to use the Debian distro if possible. I welcome any advice anyone might have.