FreeDOS can no longer read CD drive, boot problems

[Althistorian]

My configuration:

Older laptop -
200 MHz Pentium MMX
40MB RAM
2GB Hard drive
EGA/VGA integrated video
Removable 1.44 floppy drive
Removable 20X CD-ROM drive

After installation, the FreeDOS CD can boot up the machine, but no
other CD can even be read - and once it boots into the hard drive,
even the FreeDOS CD can't be read anymore.

Floppy disks can be read until I attempt to boot from one - it fails
to boot, and then no longer reads any new floppy disks.

I have reformatted the drive with the FreeDOS CD and reloaded, and
found the same problem with the CD. I am about to test to see if the
problem with the floppy drive also remain.

Is this FreeDOS's way of guaranteeing we can't switch to another OS?