Can't boot from 6.1.3 i386 iso CD

[Bob Bernstein <poobah%ruptured-duck.com@localhost>]

I have an ancient (wait for it: Celeron!) Gateway desktop 
that throws this error when booting the above-mentioned CD:

wdc_atapi_intr: bad sata phase DATAOUT

This has occurred with two different hard drives.

A bit of googling tells me this is a DMA vs PIO issue, 
MAYBE, so I wonder if there are any args I can enter at the 
boot prompt to help this along?

Thx!

--
Bob Bernstein