i cannot load mandrake 9.2 dvd. i am now running win xp. the dvd gets the the menu where you have to pick what format you have ie floppy or cd etc. then it reboots the computer but the dvd do's not boot up it go's to xp.the dvd was on the mag linux format

Sorry if I am telling you what you know but I found your message a little unclear, ah well here goes ..
Are you booting from the DVD? (you will have to ensure that this option is set up in the bios). It sounded as if you wre trying to install it from windows & you can't do this, (apparently topologicalinux can do this - it was on linux format 45 & I believe the mag sells back issues). Unless you know what you are doing be careful because you can fritz your windows installation if you are not careful. I put linux on an unused partition where it did not disturb anything & that worked well for me.
I did try mandrake, including 9,2 from linux format, but was not mad keen. Still distro is a matter of choice & some people love it.

Once again the swimming pools of life had been tainted by the incontinent toddlers of fate

As mentioned above, your BIOS needs to be set to boot from CDRom before Harddrive. Please note, however, that if you have a DVD drive as a slave to another CD drive, it may not boot. Depends on the BIOS. I tend to make a boot-floppy (cdrom.img, if I remember) and boot from that with the DVD in the drive. It takes maybe 30 seconds more, but works nicely.