One: I didn't know which to post in as both were applicable (XP CD or Bootable CDs...)

Two: I may have messed up. I made a dual cd. I made a bootable cd, (with a generic boot format, from xcdburner, or something like that) AND the same cd an XP install cd.

The Problem;

I've booted into DOS, the bootable cd brings up an A:\ prompt, and does not recognize the CD... !!! So, now I'm stuck with an A:\ Drive (which I'm assuming is essentially a logical drive), with none of the contents of the XP burn... DIR reveals the contents of the bootable logical drive. How can I access the rest of the information on the CD?

Its been so long since I worked on computers for a living. Help me please. I know I need the computer to recognize the CDROM, which means I need to install it. SHould I just create another CD altogether?

What are you trying to accomplish? You don't need to boot to DOS to install XP. An install CD is bootable in itself.

Try with UltraISO...