running diagnostics on motherboard of Gateway 450ROG model

Looked the link at
http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Mobile/9528975.pdf
but did not see anything for diagnosing the motherboard.

It belongs to someone who doesn't have the restore discs(and did not create one when the computer was working fine).

This machine was having Windows Blue Screen of Death issues(due to some IRQ faults). I tried reinstalling Windows XP from a CD, but some files could not be copied from the CD during the install process. Suspecting the CD drive could be malfunctioning, I aborted the install and used a Ultimate Boot CD to do some hardware diagnostics. I could not find a test for checking the CD-ROM in Ultimate Boot CD. Checked the hard disk which was fine, then tried RAM. Memtest reported errors with RAM and the link
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/support.html
mentions reason for error while running Memtest could be failing RAM, faulty motherboard, overheating. Unfortunately, I don't have another notebook(of same model) handy where I can swap the RAM chip and then try Memtest on it to determine if the RAM chip is fine or not. Regarding overheating, the laptop is well ventilated and is not overclocked(its BIOS setting was not tinkered since it was purchased). The machine has a single RAM chip of 512MB

I know a BIOS update can be tried, but don't want to do it lest it may "fry" the motherboard and I have not flashed the BIOS before for any computer.

I know some Dell models ship with some diagnostic CD and you can prepare a disc for some models from the Dell site.

1. How do I check if the motherboard for this notebook is not failing? Is there some diagnostic CD I can get which can help me?

2. I know someone who lives 300 miles away and has the same model, but he also does not have any restore discs. However, he is willing to create some discs for me from his working computer if I tell him how to do it. Tough part is, I don't know how a restore disc for this model can be created from a working machine. Can someone please point me to some link which explains how to make a restore disc? I checked http://www.eserviceinfo.com/most_popular/list_400.html and could not find anything.

3. Anything else I can try to determine that the faulty component is RAM?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What are the typical symptoms of motherboard failing? If none are seen for this model, I can assume faulty RAM and just order some RAM as I don't have any spare RAM modules to test this with.

How can my friend find out if he has the program which instructs on how to make a set? He is sort of an end user. I have to tell him how to find and follow it so that he can prepare a disc. Also, do those recovery disks have a diagnostic utility for checking the motherboard?

Thanks for the advice and your time.

Thanks for clarifying. I recall some Dell laptops have diagnostics which you can go to using BIOS to test RAM, CD-ROM, even motherboard and so on so thought Gateway might have something like them.
Would the Gateway recovery disks help me in this case if they don't have diagnostic utilities? There is no data which needs to be recovered, I have a separate disc of Win XP which I can use to install.

Thanks for your time and advice.

Thanks for clarifying. I appreciate your suggestions and time.