NOTICE:
This content is in the "archives" of Gadgetopia. It has been moved to this subdomain as it is no longer considered relevant to the site. It is being hosted here for a indeterminate period of time. Its existence at this URL is not guaranteed, and it may be removed at any time. If you would like to refer to this content in the future, you are encouraged to save it to your local file system.

Gateway’s Serial Number Lookup System

Originally published by "dbarker" on 2004-09-25 16:30:00Z

While I’ll always be a little bitter about Gateway leaving South Dakota, they have one feature of their Web site which I adore: serial number lookup.

Somewhere on the case of your Gateway machine is a sticker with a 10-digit serial number. It starts “00.” You can input this at Gateway’s support site and get scads of information on your specific machine. No, not just your model – but your single, specific machine.

There are a lot of support documents and upgrade options, but the really nice thing is the list of the exact equipment your machine was built with.

Here’s a screencap of part of the list and a specification sheet for a three-year-old machine in my office. I needed new memory for this machine so I stuck in the serial number and got this list. I hit the “Find Upgrades” link next to “Memory,” but they didn’t have any in stock. No problem – I have the exact memory specs right there (which is 90% of the battle when buying memory.)

I went to Crucial, but I needed to know if the memory was ECC or Non-ECC. No problem, I just hit the “Support Docs” link and the sheet for that single, specific part popped up (inset image) with the exact information I needed.

No more crawling around on the floor trying to read part numbers off cards so you can Google them and hopefully find a driver. This interface tells you exactly what part it is, and they usually have driver downloads right from the parts list.

There’s more than the list. There are driver updates for any parts in the machine, there’s information on your warranty, there’s a link to the User Guide it shipped with, and there’s an ActiveX-enabled system whereby the machine can be profiled as it sits right now, in case you made changes. (Sort of a poor man’s Aida32.)

Gateway really nailed this one. Far from a theoretical feature that just seems nice – I’ve gotten solid practical value out of this system about a dozen times (I inherited a lot of Gateway machines in this office). Combine that with the fact that their support site is more usable than any other I’ve ever seen, and you have a pretty good argument for buying a Gateway.

Now if they had only stayed in South Dakota…

Comment by "Brian" on 2004-09-26 07:35:00Z
Dell has a similar feature but they have almost hidden it. Now you have to login and go through about 3 menus before getting to it.
Comment by "Steve" on 2010-06-02 15:58:00Z
Unfortunately, for owners of Gateway Pro systems, who were bought out by MPC which also went out of business, the serial number tool doesn't work. It just redirects viewers to a long defunct website for MPC which has been out of business for 18 months. Fortunately, a few of us put the website back together as a free download site and you can still get info on an archived Gateway Pro system by sending the serial number to the webmaster at mpcdrivers.com
Comment by "Don" on 2011-09-15 15:18:00Z
Gateway is only Gateway in name as it was purchased by Acer. Acer needed a foot in the door for a better market share in the US market and this was their solution. Because Acer does not custom make systems as is required for most Enterprise buyers, they spun (sold) the business side and manufacturing arms of Gateway off to MPC who has always been the scourge of the computer industry. They used to Micron (the Yugo of the computer world). Acer only kept the consumer side of the business. Trying to get any information from them for corporate computers is now almost impossible.