I have a 32-bit box here, that I built back in 2005, and recently converted to what I'd call a "shell" PC--ie., no fixed HDD inside, whatever HDD I'm running in it just sits in a removable tray. This seems to work well with all the drives I've ever built previously, I've been able to drop in and run everything from DOS 6.22 through Win 3.1, Win 95, Win 98, RH Linux, Win XP Pro, but here's the problem: messing around with an un-built drive I'd like to rebuild, I've discovered that when I try to boot my 2005 hardware from bootable DOS diskettes, I can't get anything earlier than my Win 95 boot disk to be recognized as bootable. Everything from my original DOS 6.22 setup disks on down, until I get to that Win 95 boot disk either I get the "non-system disk" error, or if I happen to have the XP drive in the tray, it seems to ignore that there's anything in the floppy drive at all--floppy is marked as first boot device in the BIOS, but the system just buzzes ahead and runs XP. I'm finding this seriously puzzling, given the disks I've been trying are all ones I've used and had work fine with builds in pre-2005 boxes now long dismantled and gone (except for their HDDs).
Any thoughts as to what I'm missing, or being blindingly ignorant about, here?
I only EVER learn by doing, screwing up, redoing...