Question Gateway PC with Windows 8.1 will not load factory recovery disks.

[DrCyd]

Gateway PC Windows 8.1. Got this pc some years back. Came with 1 repair disk and 3 disks for recovery. Replaced it with aoother pc and put it on the shelf for a couple years. Decided to give it to the grandkids ... or sell it if its too old. Pulled the 1TB harddrive and wiped it using Disk Management. Installed one Simple volume (probably a bad move, but its done). Put it back in the pc. Put in recovery disks. Won't read the disks. Switch bios to CD as primary. Won't read the disks. Tried the repair disk. Nothing. Changed CMOS battery. Nothing. Researched and changed bios from UEFI to Legacy. Somehow, with my limited knowledge, I manage to change it to legacy. That closes the CD/DVD "ports" and it won't do anything. I have it set up as an external and, unless there are other solutions, would like to see if its possible to load the drive with 8.1 in the external using the factory disks or maybe find a free copy of 8.1 and try to load it. Anyone?

 

[Lutfij]

Unfortunately you can't find a version of Windows 8.1 without it being tarnished. Perhaps you could pass on the model and SKU to your Gateway PC in hopes that it can support an installation for Windows 10.

If possible, please pass on images of what the readable side of the discs looks like. If they are scratched badly, then that's what's impeding the use of said recovery discs...to which a brand new or fairly new optical drive won't be of assistance.

Moved thread from Systems section to Prebuilt & Enterprise section.

 

[punkncat]

I have found that all the repair disk on some (most) system do is cause the system to boot into the recovery partition on the drive. The recovery disk is going to restore all the bloat stuff that came with it new.

Considering its age, do a light Linux install, if that is even viable.

 

[Misgar]

You might find a slightly less "tarnished" copy of the Windows 8.1 ISO on archive.org.
https://archive.org/search?query=windows+8.1

I've used this site to download Vista for an old Dell.

The usual caveats apply in that you cannot be sure the ISO is free of malware, but you're not buying a dodgt Activation Key split from a Volume License Pack, which breaks Microsoft's Terms and Conditions.

Find a "full" ISO (not Recovery) and use Nero to create a USB key, or a DVD writer to burn a bootable disc (if the ISO will fit). I've not had much luck with dual-layer 8.5GB DVDs, so USB boot is preferred.
https://www.nero.com

If you still have the original Activation Key that came with the computer, you'll still have a genuine License to use Windows 8.1.

You might have to download additional drivers not picked up during the OS re-install. Take care when visiting some driver sites and don't give them your email address if asked.