Help me find this PC

[arnold_the_bartender]

I've been relentlessly searching for an old desktop model that my family used to have (think we got it in '98). I've tried everything including Google image searches. Our original desktop has been long gone and I wanted to figure out the exact same model that we used to have. I can picture how the desktop looks like in my mind pretty clearly to the point where I'm able to tell which lookalikes don't match up and which ones look very similar. I'll know if it's the right one if I see it. Here is the info that I know. I'll be throwing in as much detailed info as I can.

- It was an HP Pavilion Desktop Computer
- It came with Windows 98 OS installed
- The tower was primarily white and grey in color
- Had a dark grey power button
- Had an Intel Celeron Processor
- Included one CD-Rom drive (gray in color to match with the color scheme of course)
- Included one floppy drive
- Had room for two more cd drives to be installed (big cover plate could be removed when installing a second cd rom drive and when the second is installed, there was another single plate to cover the single remaining slot)

As for the rear (from what I can remember):
- Two PS/2 Ports
- One parallel port
- Serial port (think it was just one)
- Two USB ports
- One modem/phone jack port
- Sound jacks included audio out, mic in, and line in (I don't think it was on board. It was probably a separate sound card that came pre-installed.)
- One Ethernet port
- One VGA out port

Extra Info:
- Came with a CRT monitor (don't know exact dimensions but most pavilions came with the same size monitors at the time). The end of the CRT wire had a standard male VGA connector type and the plug was orange in color. It also had a 3.5mm jack with a yellow colored plug which would connect somewhere but it's purpose was for the mic holes on top of the monitor. I think it had to be plugged in a port that was next to the VGA in on the back of the computer.
- Came with two Polk Audio stereo speakers (also had a headphone jack and the power/volume control knob on the left speaker) that would mount to the sides of the monitor.

I can't really remember how the inside looked like but I do remember seeing maybe two ISA slots on the motherboard. Also, there are no ports for anything whatsoever on the front of the case. Just the power button, floppy eject button, and of course the eject button for the pre-instaled cd rom drive. Here is a picture of a model that is very very similar but isn't quite it. It's the closest match I could find.

http://buy-sellelectronics.com/main/sho ... ly/dp2.jpg

The only difference is that in this picture, there is only room for two cd rom drives (including the one that is already installed) and the cd rom drive is white in this picture. The cd rom drive that came with the one I'm looking for didn't have a volume slider. Only an eject button and was grey.

If anyone here happens to know or own the type of model I'm looking for, can provide pictures to see if it's the one, and can provide me with the model number, that would be awesome!

[neilencio]

The casing of the picture you linked to comes from the 4*-series. I checked out the site and there's a LOT of 'em, and not all of them have a picture (the ones I saw only have 2 bays for the CD drive, all the ones I saw were short and have no room for a third CD drive).

The next in the series (the 5-series) had casings that were tall enough for 3 CD drives, but they look vastly different from the one you posted (white with blue faceplates, and had USB ports in the front).

The white CD drive in the picture you posted is not an HP part, it's a generic CD rom drive that was probably added to replace the original one (which is why it looks so out of place).

Also, I found this while googling for the 44 series:



It looks like what you're looking for, but I can't find any other info about that model, the picture is too small to read the front label. And searching for "xt963" brought up a PC that doesn't look like the one pictured.

Out of curiosity, why are you looking for that specific model?

[arnold_the_bartender]

The casing of the picture you linked to comes from the 4*-series. I checked out the site and there's a LOT of 'em, and not all of them have a picture (the ones I saw only have 2 bays for the CD drive, all the ones I saw were short and have no room for a third CD drive).

The next in the series (the 5-series) had casings that were tall enough for 3 CD drives, but they look vastly different from the one you posted (white with blue faceplates, and had USB ports in the front).

The white CD drive in the picture you posted is not an HP part, it's a generic CD rom drive that was probably added to replace the original one (which is why it looks so out of place).

Also, I found this while googling for the 44 series:



It looks like what you're looking for, but I can't find any other info about that model, the picture is too small to read the front label. And searching for "xt963" brought up a PC that doesn't look like the one pictured.

Out of curiosity, why are you looking for that specific model?

Yeah, that drive did look like a replacement. As for the pic you posted, it looks like it might be the same one! We only had 2 drives installed but it looks like a match. If only there was a bigger pic. Then I'd be able to get a lock on the model number, look it up, and check if the amount of features that came with the mobo add up. I was doing searches in the 4 series but I'll do some more later on tonight when I have time.

I'm looking for the model purely for sentimental reasons. Also, to make a classic PC game machine out of it if I can find one. Thanks much for the help.

[StuntDouble]

Are you going to keep the same hardware, or just use the shell with new-ish parts?

[arnold_the_bartender]

If I can find one, I plan on using the original hardware that came with it (and adding to it, maybe an old Sound Blaster AWE32) but not replacing any of them with newer components.

[arnold_the_bartender]

After spending hours of searching, the model might also be in the 8000 series, though your pic is still the most accurate neilencio. There's a list of models here. I looked up a bunch of these models on HP's Customer Care site.

This one kinda looks like it but isn't quite it (plus the one my family had didn't come with a wrist pad with the keyboard like the one pictured in this link): http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prod ... duct=59354 More info about the same one here. Only problem is that the one in this link has Windows 95, not Windows 98.

I'm somewhere in the neighborhood but still stuck.