I have some gateways (E-3400) that will not allow me to restore. I get the message "This CD belongs to a gateway computer". I have, however, installed my copy of win98 and it installed great. This would be fine except for the license issue.What is causing this problem? any info is greatly appreciated, thanks, DandC

Is the restore CD for the same model? Just matching the brand is not good enough.

Yes, The restore disks came with the machines. I've tried cleaning and new disks, and still the same result. I also, flased the BIOS, and still no dice. I contacted gateway support and he said it was a motherboard issue, but why can I install other OSs on it? What is the restore disk looking for so it can do the job? Appreciate, DandC

I'm not in the position to find out what the install routine looks for. Gateway was only in Australia for a few years and that ended about 4 years ago. The help desk said it was a motherboard issue. That may have been a clue. Have the machines had any upgrades? The install routine might do things like count the ram. You could try downgrading the machines to their original specs and see if it works. If you can get one machine to restore, yo might consider using a program like Norton Ghost to create your own restore CD.