Alright... here's my problem. My parents have a gateway that they use. It's their only comp at the moment. Lately, it's been going through a lot of problems so I'm attempting to restore it back to factory settings. I want to clear the hard drive, reinstall windows and go through the whole shabang.

I've done this once before on an hp system. That went well and was fairly easy, however, I'm running into problems with the gateway. I've gone through and made a backup of all the important files. I've gone into BIOS and changed the load order to run ATAPI CD-ROM first. Then, I put the system restore CD in and turn the comp on. It brings me through to a menu that says things like...

• Install Windows 98
  Delete and Install Windows 98
  Install CDROM Drivers
  Delete CDROM Drivers
  etc.

That's not an exact/word-for-word list but it gives you the idea... So, I've tried both the install and the "delete and install" options. Each of them bring me to a message that says something along the lines of

"The OS installation on your hard drive is being prepared. This could take up to 15 minutes.

CDR101: Not ready reading drive D
Abort, Retry, Fail?"

It sits there like that for well over 15 minutes. Abort/Retry/Fail options do nothing. I've tried using the options from the list above with install/delete drivers and then go back to the windows install and i still get the same problem...

ANYONE know what to do?

Edit: Deleted by me.

1. Is your CDROm actually drive D?
2. Have you had a look inside the CD? Are the files there?
3. Is the installer installing the correct drivers?

1. I believe it is but there's a chance it's E. How would I go about fixing that problem?

2. No I haven't, but I'll check.
3. I assume so, but how would I know?


Sorry... I'm a web guy. I rarely do any work, if any with hardware or setting up a computer.

If it is drive E, you can make sure it becomes drive D by connecting it as the primary slave.
The readme on the CD should say which driver is being installed, you can then google that and your CDRom model to see if it is compatable.

Again... I'm totally new to hardware work. When you say "connect it as the primary slave" are you talking about opening up the comp and switching the wires. - not technical talk I know... I'm sorry. If so, then I can try that, but I did try that earlier and had some problem. Can't remember what it was, but I guess I can try it again and try messing around for a while.

I'm sorry to be such a pest everyone, I really am, but I need to get this done by tomorrow... so any help anyone can provide is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

Thanks again to those of you who have helped thus far and thanks in advance to anyone else that does.

I'm assuming you have an IDE mobo.
If you open up your PC, your hard drive will be connected to the mobo by a ribbon cable. Your CDROM will also be connected by a ribbon cable. Your hard drive will be the Primary Master, to set your cd drive as the primary slave, use the connection in the middle of the hard drives cable for the CD drive, and change the jumper settings to slave. Google your CD rom drive and "Jumper setting" to find out which pins the jumper needs.

alright... I solved this problem... now for another thread for a different problem o.O

Thanks for the help everyone!

Post your solution then, others may be having the same problem.