Boot Issues

Hello,
My friend has the gateway EL 1200-05w and recently received the restore DVD's to reload the operating system, applications and drivers. Now don't jump to conclusions, but I remember the good ole days when a person bought a computer they also got the restore discs with everything on them right in the packaging with the damn computer!
The problem is, no matter what method (and I know them all), the discs will not boot. These discs are the second set that he has received from another source. I can read what is on them, but this is all I get-- Disc Boot Error- please load system disc. Another two targets for target practice received.
What is this crap? The first thing I did when I booted up his computer the first time, I made recovery discs because his drive contains a burner, and they reload drive C with the factory default settings. This procedure cleans drive C and works, but no drivers are replaced or updated. I know how to load driver downloads from the net, but personally feel they are unnecessary risks of loading incorrect drivers. The program used for the backup was NTI Backup Now 5. Good program- I might add.
However that is not my point, I know how to create partitions, use MS-DOS, the list goes on and on, I mean literally I could not calculate as slow as the computer if I tried.
The only reason that I am trying to boot off them, is to see if they have different or better drivers then were previously installed. The funny thing is, and it is not really funny even though the discs were free, the wizard used to install drivers, cannot even access the disc when manually told to look there. The bull crap message I get on this one is funny too-- The install wizard has encountered a problem and needs to shut down. The wizard is not encountering the problems, its the damn discs, I know it for a fact. I ran the system diagnostics using one value at a time to isolate problems within the Operating System, but still found no errors.
He also uses Panda internet Security and recently sent them the scenario of no boot issues and error messages related to these so called restore discs. The numbers on the discs are P/N: DD.G1005.SV2
Oh, and another thing, when I put the discs in to boot from when restarting the computer, even when I select a boot first device, it reads the disc for two seconds and boots straight to Windows. Also, when I open drive D to look at what is on the discs, they both read CDRecovery disc 1. My question is also this, how in the flying F can both discs be No. 1 when it is labeled differently on the discs themselves.
I personally think, computers are manufactured this way now to prevent the owner from actually owning the operating system he thinks that he initially bought. Not fair if you ask me. Remember that I mentioned that when a person purchased a computer, they were really getting what they paid for. Now, a person has to track down their operating system through annoying phone calls to some person in India who tries to walk you through boot up procedures that a person could do in their sleep if they know anything about a computer at all.
Any ideas would greatly be appreciated. I don't have these problems on my computer, but the system aforementioned is an Emachines model with AMD 64 Athlon 2650e processor -Windows XP Home Edition 32 bit-with Optiarc DVD+RW with LabelFlash. Thanks for whose ever time is kind enough to reply!