Alternative install?

Hello all, Since I can't get the SuSE CD's to boot on my laptop (HP ze4125), I was wondering if there is another way to get SuSE up and running. I was thinking I could recreate the cd1 boot disk with a recompiled kernel. I'm I thinking too simply? Anybody with experience here? Do you have any other tips? I would love to avoid making a new boot disk if possible. A couple things: -No, I don't have a floppy drive. -8.2 worked fine -I now have XP and Fedora Core Beta installed (--install from XP?--) -I have access to NFS server (--network install?--) Thanks in advance. Chris