[Will]

Sounds like bad media then. The disc image should have had either an md5 or a sha-1 hash with it. Check that the hash of your downloaded file actually matches what it is supposed to be. Then, when you burn the disc, there should be an option in your burning software to verify the data after the disc is complete. Then it should probably work (unless there is still a problem with your boot order).

--edit: Ok, I just read the post again, and it looks like you are never really going into the BIOS. For a lot of OEM computer makers, they have a splash screen at startup that covers up the normal post messages, and usually hitting Esc kills the splash and shows the machine posting. This is not the same as going into the BIOS editor. There are different ways to get into BIOS from the post screen, I have seen it as F2, F11, F12, and Del before. Basically what you should get is a menu that comes up, and the machine will not be booting into any operating system until you exit the menu. That means that you should not be seeing the windows boot loader, where it gives you the option of choosing a windows partition, or what mode to boot in, with a timer that will automatically select for you. What you should be seeing is a screen where you edit the system clock, information on processor and memory, detected IDE/SATA/SCSI devices, etc. One of the options should say something like "Boot Order" or "Boot Drives". It will list your floppy, your optical drive, and your hard disks. You want to make sure the optical drive is BEFORE all the hard disks. Save and exit, and it should boot from the disc at next startup.