HP Pavilion - Windows XP Media Center Edition from 2006!!

We have the HP Pavilion a1320n Media Center Edition PC on the bench rescued from the Mega E-Waste Haul! Does this system work? Let's give this system the love it deserves! In this video we will get the system posting, do a clean up and add some upgrades!! We will even explore Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005!
#retropc #nostalgia #hewlettpackard #hp #pavilion #ewaste #vintage #pcrepair #restoration #radeon #ati #windowsxp #windows #intel #pentium #mediacenter

[@jesiel7379]

I bought one of these in 2006..not that model but similar. It is a media center pc but with an AMD Athlon X2 I believe…I remember I bought it in the long gone CompUSA.…I still have it…it works but I dont use it anymore. Usually those pcs also came with an IR sensor and a windows media center remote control..the sensor receive the signal from remote and also transmitted IR signal to control the cable box or Dish Network box…I remember I used that pc as a DVR back in the day to record shows when I used to have Dish Network. Old times memories.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!! Yes I don't think this one had the remove or sensor. I am using it today though for DVDs and USB media!

[@rmcdudmk212]

HP had some really slick looking machines during this period. Glad to see it running like a champ again. 👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed and thanks!

[@rmcdudmk212]

​@@TheRetroRecallnow it just needs a 5.1 Dolby certified sound card and it can be the home theater system it was ment to be. 👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

On it!!!

[@zotmidi747]

I used to have the later one with the HOT pentium D CPU but now I’ve totally rebuilt it running an Intel Core i5-4570 CPU, GTX 1060 6GB GPU and Intel DQ87PG motherboard

[@rmcdudmk212]

@@zotmidi747 that sounds like a pretty sweet rig 😁

[@MajimaEnterprises]

I miss the silver tech era. I remember around 2005/06, every young person started to view silver tech as uncool and tacky (myself included), but now tons of us who grew up with it are nostalgic for it. I guess it's the 20 year nostalgia cycle thing.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha for sure. And the stepping stone to the black cases.

[@TobiasWilmoth]

I remember having this exact model about 7-8 years ago that I had to completely from scratch, redo and install/update the BIOS on it since it was corrupted to hell and back, and once I got it running, IIRC I installed Windows 7 to turn it into a starter NAS. Good times

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! I should update the BIOS, thanks for reminding me!

[@RVail623]

An analog TV tuner card was an option on some of those XP Media Center machines, although that was not included on this particular example. Of course, those factory-installed tuner cards would only work with the old analog TV signals, which are no longer being broadcast. However, there are Hauppauge branded digital TV tuner cards available, if interested in adding that kind of Media Center upgrade. Later Windows editions dropped native TV tuner support, but the Hauppauge TV tuner software still functioned in it's place.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great minds think alike! I have a few Hauppauge cards I'm going to try out. It's a fun machine!

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

This is a common misconception about these machines. Machines that were built after 2006 were required by the FCC to have either QAM ATSC or combined cards to be compliant with phase 1 of the dtv transition. WMC also had update roll-up 2 that added support to digital broadcast television standards like those and cablecard.

[@davidvelazquez9473]

@@TheRetroRecall AMEN! The model I would recommend is the Hauppauge HVR-1600, as it has an ATSC tuner and it's PCI, not PCIe, as these machines only have an x16 PCIe slot for graphics cards, and it's recommended to save that for discrete graphics.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Sounds good, I'll take a look around and see what I have. Also, smart about dedicated graphics being separate.

[@BenState]

@@DGTelevsionNetwork Depends on the country.

[@georgez8859]

You don`t usually see those Machines in such good shape. nice restoration and the Video Card is a nice addition. Thanks for the video

[@TheRetroRecall]

No problem and thank you for watching!!!

[@TheHangarHobbit]

Ahh the era of the stickers, lord I remember getting HPs and Compaqs and the sticker-on-sticker violence was just unreal 🤣 But it is amazing how long some of those old boxes can last, I have an HP from 2009 running in the closet as a backup server, the old Phenom II 925 with 7gb of RAM happily chugging along.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha yes and awesome!! I love hearing about these old systems still in use!

[@Alex-sz8ku]

My dad had one of these systems around mid 2005. That computer is long gone now so I'm not sure the exact model but I do remember it having an orange/white AMD Athlon 64 decal on the front. I think it had a capture/tuner card of some sort in it too because there were RCA and S-Video ports on the front when you slid the door down. Lots of memories playing Sims 2 and watching movies with that computer until it was replaced in 2008 with a new HP!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this memory and that it was actually used as a media center!

[@StupidGamer360]

That's amazing!

[@MixShadowlight]

Also, to answer your question about the capacitor plague, it happened between 1999 to 2007. By the start of 2006, most motherboard manufacturers would have stopped using affected capacitors. Although MSI would still continue to face capacitor issues well pass 2006 and into 2007.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!! I have no idea why I keep forgetting lol! Fortunately this system doeant seem to have suffered from it.

[@blackterminal]

I have three old motherboards with the same swollen caps around the cpu socket. 3300uf 6.3 volt. Going to try to replace them all. Mostly just for fun.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It's not too bad once you get the hang of it. Also, it's a good idea to get rid of those caps before they start to leak on the motherboard.

[@chrisrudi7162]

A really very nice contemporary system. Back then, Microsoft was still really creative 😁 I personally really like using this MCE theme, it just looks fresher and more colorful. I never had a Media Center PC myself, so everything passed me by a bit back then. I still have a card reader with USB 3.0 in my gaming PC today. I still use cards like this often. And I also still have an optical drive. But no one needs modem cards like that anymore, what else can we do with them? Even back in 2005 and 2006, they were obsolete and more like a museum.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha yes, Microsoft was a little less boring back then. Yeah those cards even then weren't very useful unless you were heavy into digital photography. Even then you could connect a USB cable haha.

[@lucasrem]

chrisrudi7162 Media in 2006, disks and cards. USB is the only interface for external media, rest was legacy support. Internet only machines, keep the TCP/IP port only ?

[@lucymorrison]

Loved this vid! I really like this era in the mid 2000s where there was such a big focus on being on the whole “entertainment centre” aspect of tech, WMC 2005 was great, the PSP and PS3 XMB were great, Apple Front Row was great, back when companies actually let you own your media lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

I agree and it's funny, I was just out to buy a game for the PS5 and you are basically renting it!! Thanks for watching!

[@phantom193]

i remember my buddies parents in high school got this exact computer and i vividly remember playing battlefield (2005) on it and being amazed at how good it looked and ran. I was stuck with a compaq 5000 series at home at the time😂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! Yes - I (like yourself) had many friends with these types of OEM systems. I always custom built mine always trying to tweak a little more power / performance out of them! :)

[@stevencamp6824]

i see your point using mechanical drives, i'd probably be using them too if i had a surplus..seeing these machines come along makes me happy lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. And those chonky hard drive sounds are perfect ahha.

[@PC4USE1]

If I'm not mistaken,there should be a decoder built into the ATI software disk. There also is another program(from memory because I mostly use Linux now) called Stinky's(did not make the name up) that is free. Those old MC PC's are always fascinating to me. RIP WMC.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes there is, I'm going to install it to see if I can get past that error. Yeah, tech evolved past the need for an MCE machine.. But at the time, such a great idea.

[@davideliasok]

Loved it, instantly subscribed! Cheers!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you and welcome aboard!! Great to have you along for the ride.

[@willaimkazer9754]

That thing is awesome. Brings me back to the day.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed! I have it connected to my main TV for DVD's haha!

[@maxe-200]

I love this type of videos

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

What a cool looking computer. Hp always were looking nice.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. This is the first time Ive come accross one in person.

[@Natures_Intentions]

Amazing nice restoration

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you, is a great machine. I'm using it today :)

[@w9gb]

The HP Pavilion a1200/a1300 series. I bought this HP model in 2008 as an empty case (HP surplus, mint condition, never used). A high quality (and Quiet) ATX power supply (500 watt) was installed. The Intel DH87RL “Round Lake” (i7, 4770S) mATX motherboard with internal WiFi antennas (repurposed laptop antennas) behind the plastic front panel. SSD for Boot Drive, DVD, and two WD Red drives (4 GB) for a Raid 0 Data Storage. I still use this computer today, it runs Windows 10 !! Refreshed all the front decals for Intel i7 and Win10 !

[@TheRetroRecall]

Sleeper!! That's awesome! I love hearing these old systems (even if its just the case) get reused! That's the nice thing when OEM's stick to proper standards... they can be reused. Thanks for sharing!

[@FluffyPuppyKasey]

My family used to have one of these (or at least a similar machine) back around 2007-2008. It died around 2009-2010 due to what I now know is a dying GPU, but at the time we didn't know that, so we threw it out. I'd LOVE to have one of these again. With the full set of peripherals would be nice. These machines, or at least the one we had, had a 1680x1050 monitor, and a matching silver keyboard and mouse

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! Hopefully I triggered some Nostalgia for you :). Maybe you will be able to find one in the wild somewhere.

[@gaiaweylyn]

1680x1050 was such a fantastic resolution to have back then. I had a dual monitor setup in the late 2000s that had a 20" primary Dell UltraSharp at that resolution, sitting next to a matching 17" 1280x1024 model from the same line. Colors were pretty decent for the time, and those screen sizes meant the pixel density on them was relatively high too so they genuinely were sharp! I never much liked how 20 inch 1280x1024 displays looked.. I still have those, still working last I checked! I like using them when putting together XP era stuff.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this.

[@tristangrice2064]

I have been waiting for this for a very long time since 2019.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For this video?

[@tristangrice2064]

@@TheRetroRecall No, I have been wanting this computer ever since I got my first HP Gaming Pavilion in September of 2019.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!

[@gentuxable]

The plague affects mainly Pentium 4 and Athlon/Athlon XP systems right until the Athlon 64. Older systems didn't draw nearly as much power and were not that often affected. I think the problem is more with new old stock parts than old used parts as the original owner would've very likely have fixed it. I remember at the time that we saw a lot of new stuff thrown away because of it, those failed early in the life. But when buying unused old parts, one might find the caps gone bad just sitting in there.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Leaking cap juice all over the NOS board!

[@richardestes6499]

The digital media enhancement programs were originally part of a Microsoft Plus for Windows XP pack that was labeled as "Digital Media Edition." They were later slipstreamed into XP MCE itself. Also, for being "spares," the monitor, keyboard and mouse are impressively period correct.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks and yes, I'm always on the hunt at thrift stores and these were perfect finds for when a system like this came along.

[@frozennorthproductions]

I'm absolutely shocked that you don't have thousands more subs. This video was in my recommended, and I just kinda figured it was another huge retro tech channel, so I subscribed because of course I'm going to subscribe to retro tech... and then I noticed you don't even have 5k yet?! How? This doesn't even make sense. This channel is unreal. I've been watching your videos for about an hour straight now. These are amazing!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this comment!!!! Great to have you along!! Thanks so much for watching and stay tuned for more and spread the word :)

[@gamersislerr]

Nice Work !

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!!

[@CodyakaLamer]

This was my first computer and got me into computers. I really loved this computer.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I love hearing these stories!!

[@ambermason509]

This is the very close to the first computer I ever bought. It was the AMD version. Same hardware just Athlon processor instead of Pentium 4. Was great back in the day.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome! Hopefully you got to enjoy the media center features.

[@TheNiteNinja19]

I had the model with the piano black finish on the front, and I still love that case so I built a sleeper in it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!! What was the build?

[@jasmijndekkers]

Nice job. Keep up the good work my dear friend. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks Steven!

[@Iliescuvalentin]

Back in the day, i had a laptop Dell XP Media Center Edition. Loved it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome!!

[@wrlrdqueek]

I googled the model number, The drive in the expansion bay is a x48 speed CD-ROM drive, which is an interesting drive to pair with the DVD burner the system came with, considering it's several years older. My best guess is the original owner used the system to copy cds, and just threw in a spare they had. (When I see an odd configuration like that I like to speculate on it.)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you for checking this out for me. My vote - fix the lightscribe drive and replace the expansion with a similar drive :)

[@weaselsdontfly]

This was the computer I got as my graduation gift from high school, what a trip to the past.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That would have been quite the gift!

[@weaselsdontfly]

@Karataus it was! Frys Electronics was running a sale for recent graduates for this so it was 30% off, still very expensive but that thing lasted me all through college and the motherboard/cpu finally offed itself around 2012. I was able to save alot of other parts reuse in other builds in the 2010s in other Frankenstein builds.

[@maxtornogood]

Nice work on the cleanup & upgrades, as always! 😀. I've seen retro channels go straight for the solid state alternatives like CompactFlash without even confirming whether the original drive still works. They care about retro until it comes to the hard drive & *then* they wanna make exceptions. Thanks for keeping the spirit of spinning rust alive!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Spinning rust for the win!!! :)

[@pug2052]

It’s about preserving the machine solid state will last standard hard disk will corrupt

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes, however I do have the images of these machines and will be uploading them to archive.org. These are not in everyday use, however in the event a drive goes bad - quite easy to swap. It all depends on what the goal is. I like to add in the feeling of the same speed the drive would deliver at the time along with the clicks and pops of the mechanical drive - but that's me.

[@pug2052]

I do agree I miss the old clicking and popping of the physical hard drive but I’m more for longevity of the install and the machine

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure. For me I may take this same machine in another video and do something completely different.. Like a different OS, or a lightscribe demo, or something - meaning the HDD may change depending on the content. If I was keeping them long term in a certain state, I may consider a different solution. I get the desire for longevity.

[@wiwingmargahayu6831]

2006 is amazing year for some people Sir

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha yes! This would have been a cool machine to have back in the day. It seemed everyday a new computer was coming out with new tech.

[@teclego007]

I remember the Window Dancer vividly. I thought it cool watching her dance as I was listening to music CDs. I unfortunately couldn’t download the additional dancers as I didn't have internet access at the time.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Neat! I never saw it before I did this video. I heard that you could have some interesting additions to this feature lol.

[@fra4455]

Great video

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you and thanks for watching!!

[@fra4455]

@@TheRetroRecall thank you

[@scottykilmer1094]

ohh crapp.. i miss those good times when I bought my first fast PC, with the new Windows XP operating system. I was finally able to play Half Life Opossing Force on it without any hiccups. The Hp brand was very expensive at the time, but they were very strong PCs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. I remember when XP first came out, I was excited to get it home and install it :). I never had an oem system, but I did have a Pavilion monitor!

[@poorfarmer391]

I have basically that exact same one my dad bought it for me March 2005 for graduation and I still have it and use it

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's great, what is the model?? Do you still have the original restore cd's?

[@WestleyWolf]

Omg i so remember using this PC. i remember using this with an Xbox 360 and since i had Cable connected to the PC i could use it to record TV shows and Movies from one room on a Widescreen Flat Panel LCD and have it play back in another through the Xbox 360 connected to a Plasma TV! it also doubled as a sick gaming PC because of the processor and GPU we had. did heavy gaming on NFS Underground 2, Sims 2, Sim City 4, Final Drive Nitro (HP Bundled this game for free) on an X1300 pro. i think at some point we also used it to make Home Movie DVDs from Camcorders and digital cameras (weddings, birthdays etc.) great system and fantastic version of XP!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for sharing this memory, that's awesome! Although I never had much experience with this OS over the years, I had a lot of fun with it in this video. I also heard of many of my friends at the time with MCE doing exactly as you did with the videos! Thanks for watching!

[@bobg58]

My father had this same computer. I ended up with it after my father was gone and it worked for several years until the capacitors started to leak. By then the damage was too great to be worth fixing. You could get an optional remote control for it. I was given one, so I put it on my father's PC. It was great. Tried putting it on other PCs, but it seems it required the Media Center drivers.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thabks for sharing this, glad to hear it was in use for a long time. I have not been able to locate a remote, however I'm sure one will pop up one of these days to complete the system :)

[@goosebyte]

Oooh we had one of these, when my parents were done with it, it became my bedroom DVR/tv tuner, and my old tube tv became a third monitor lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!!!

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

as always great content and I hope you can get the disc drives up and running properly. As for what I would want to see on the HD Media Center PC? Honestly anything you can throw it, would personally love to see doom 3 or half life 2 running on this beast.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Sounds good, great idea!

[@Chicagoguy1984]

This brings back memories at CompUSA back in those days. Fast forward to 2022 I found possibly my last ever desktop, a loaded HP system with 1TB hard drive , 24" FHD monitor, DVD player at Walmart clearance for $50 😜😁🤪😎🤘

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha now that was a steal of a deal!! Nice work!

[@grahamshaw5531]

Never had one. want one now.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It was a fun project with more to do. Right now I have it connected using it as a DVD player lol.

[@yatapaws]

i had two of these ! :3 loved them, still have one, the other had a psu fire tho, big rip !

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yikes!!! I plan on replacing the PSU just to be careful as I'd like to put this system to use.

[@justsumguy2u]

I love computers of this vintage, and this one is a really nice example. It reminds me of my very first computer, an HP/XP machine that was also gray/silver. And amen to NOT using SSD's----I get that on some of my videos as well, and I think it's from people that don't really understand what vintage computing is about

[@TheRetroRecall]

100%. I get they have their uses but as long as I can use spinning rust.. I will!!! Ps - just checked your channel out.. Awesome!

[@justsumguy2u]

@@TheRetroRecall Thanks!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Subbed!!!

[@justsumguy2u]

@@TheRetroRecall Thanks, I appreciate that

[@dondanana9573]

I REMEMBER i wanted this beast back then lol

[@TheRetroRecall]

It really is a cool machine! Looked great and had a ton of fun features - for the family!

[@shermanzuki]

Ah yes, I love these types of computers ngl

[@TheRetroRecall]

They were great machines!

[@lucasrem]

I own the Packard Bell version. Love the CD Bay doors on them !

[@TheRetroRecall]

They are pretty neat. Now, I just have to get the drives going again.

[@dondanana9573]

god i miss the days coming home from middle school loading up msn messenger, and grinding runescape back in 2006

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha now that's a great memory!!! Did you ever experience the ICQ or MIRC days?!

[@damian9303]

Woah, I still have the recovery discs burned for this machine that our family used to eventually sell it off for a less archaic Windows 7 laptop. That tower has served me many years, what a beaut for its time

[@TheRetroRecall]

I would love to get a copy of those recovery disks if they are in fact for this machine. Is there a chance you can image and upload them to archive.org??

[@Varo486Photography]

We all have had a friend who had this as a family computer.

[@TheRetroRecall]

100%. Unfortunately I never had one but wishing I did now haha.

[@somecuntxxx]

I had the yuner card version with the A/V ports in the front with 2 doors instead of one on the front. was my7 first gaming PC. used it until 2016.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! I love this PC.

[@bigpanda8847]

+the retro recall. Awesome video love seeing these old tanks (systems/towers) I remember having a big old windows XP pc what came in a giant box for one Christmas was awesome funnily enough I managed to somehow put a password on it from booting and I couldn't remember it for the life of me lol 🤣😆😆

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahahahah! Hopefully you were able to clear it lol.

[@bigpanda8847]

@@TheRetroRecall yeah thankfully managed one of neighbours to get it reset but she weren't happy about it one bit she was moaning constantly so yeah plus she wouldn't play with her daughter (I was a kid myself) even though my dad tried convincing her but yeah was all good in end after resetting it but my dad warned me to not do it again

[@TheRetroRecall]

Lol I would imagine haha! I broke our family computer by upgrading it from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. Great memories now, but not at the time haha!

[@HCIbn]

OMG! Haven't seen an ATI Radeon X1300 in ages. I remember trying to run Doom 3 on this gpu card.

[@TheRetroRecall]

And here we are with new old stock haha.

[@YALE70]

I still have my Pavilion m7357c that my parents got me at a CompUSA in like 2004 or so. Used it (and abused it - too many system restores to count) until 2012 when I finally got into gaming PCs during HS. I've used so many more powerful systems since then, but my fondest memories will always be with that old silver box. Only computer I ever owned that came with a TV remote.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahah love this, thanks for sharing this memory!

[@wintermute740]

I have one of those in my collection. I used it as my file server up until about two years ago.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! Hopefully it is still around :)

[@wintermute740]

@@TheRetroRecall It is still in my collection, but not performing any duties currently ;) I think it outperformed my current file server, so when I go to upgrade storage capacity again, I may migrate back to it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!

[@branscombe_]

I’m building a few machines myself, I just moved to the St. John region and I was recommended your channel by the guys over at beats and Bytes while I was picking up a USB floppy drive. I’d love to connect if possible!

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome!!! For sure, send me an email [e-mail]

[@TheChaoticWolf]

I got one of these 3 months ago from outside my house on the sidewalk lol. Not the exact model but a similar one. Didn't find much about it online. Interesting to see

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!! Hopefully you are able to get it going!

[@Diegotheartist1]

I actually have this system in my possession, although not in its case anymore. AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz, my childhood computer I spent a lot of time on. it came with a capture card with TV Tuning, and oooh yeah the memories I had with that machine. :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome and hey Diego!!! Welcome to the channel!! Hopefully you are subbed :). Karataus.

[@cabbitkisser2620]

i got the same hp pavilion set up. but mine is a hp pavilion a1200y. staples had a sale gong on years ago & they was sold the hp pavilion for $100 years ago. so, me & my dad went to staples & bought two of them. my hp pavilion had a 2.6 single core cpu. but over the years & many upgrades later. i maxed mine out at 3.6 dual core cpu - 2gb memory - 2tb hdd - 2gb video card & it has a Blu-ray drive & a hd DVD drive as well.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Love this shared memory!! I have many a memory going to staples with my dad.. Always asking him for something new lol

[@oldradioguy65]

I had a similar one to this that had a TV tuner card. Bought it at the local Salvation Army.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!! I have a few tv tuner cards as well, may be a fun addition to the computer!

[@darkred1686]

I saw the "XP Media Center Edition" on the top of the case and I was hoping this one would turn out to be one with a tuner card. I remember when that was a big thing, you'd get the card, and the Windows Media Center remote too, sometimes with RCA pass-throughs on the front panel. I always wanted on of those machines when I was a teenager, thinking how cool it would be to connect a PS2 or Gamecube up to play console games through my PC. I really love the "wild west" vibe from PCs of this era, so many cool little features you just don't see anymore.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I agree! I have a couple of tuner cards that I am going to try using to see if I can complete the package. I will also go on the hunt for the remote... There must be some sort of USB receiver for the remote if no IR on it?

[@brianspece8951]

Gives me such an early 2000 vibes 😭

[@TheRetroRecall]

Times going way too fast!

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

I have a Compaq version of this case, it was our old family desktop. The model was a Presario s4120wm. It had an Athlon XP system in it. I built my first PC in this case and used it as my main case for almost a year. Right now it has a Ryzen 5 5600g system in it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! It's great that you still have it today.

[@Etienne_H]

This was my main PC for a long time. Even ended up using it as a server in the very end. What was really nice about it was the ability to reset the computer without needing install discs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!! You say in the end, is it still around??

[@Etienne_H]

@@TheRetroRecall Also a beautiful silver LCD monitor came in the same product range and the keyboard was awesome.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed

[@Etienne_H]

@@TheRetroRecall KZbin doesn't want to keep my second comment about it's whereabouts. Long story short it got tossed by my dad who didn't know that it was functional and that I wanted to keep it. Was my first PC to connect to the internet after a few years of owning it. I was about 13 years old when I got it. I tried to upgrade it with a sapphire card at the time but aside from spinning fans - no video. Hard to say what the issue was now, but I definitely didn't know what I was doing. The card was probably incompatible. With upgrades, I would have used it much longer I am sure.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Absolutely. Funny about the KZbin stuff... I'll take a look at the spam filter.

[@OctavioGaitan]

I used to have one of them as a kid. I'm thinking about getting myself another one.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It's a pretty capable machine that's for sure. It seems I am lucky that the caps are all good.. (even though I could fix them)... There is no damage to the MB.

[@ww2069]

it is sad to see people make a vid about a pc I had back in day but mine was AMD. lol sweet vid!!!!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha thanks! I liked this machine when doing the video.

[@HorsepowerGarageVideos]

I have the same computer but 2007 model year in excellent condition, I currently have windows vista and windows 2000 pro installed on it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!!!

[@FrenziedManbeast]

RCA Video Cable == Composite Video Cable. @ 21:40 that's a Component (not Composite) video cable. Thank you for the vid!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Appreciate it.

[@mrgrinch9865]

I have an a1123c model. Was given to me by my brother in law. Still works. Have not use it in a while. I should pull it out and rebuild it for kicks.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes!!! Do it!!

[@rfigueroa1247]

I had this pc it wasn’t bad. It was one of the 1st p4’s with hyperthreading which made it pretty fast

[@TheRetroRecall]

I have it running now (after I restored it) as a media center! So cool! I can only imagine how more cool it would have been back in the day!

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

When I was a kid, the extra images found in the My Pictures folder of these 2002-2006 era HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario PCs were my favorite as a kid on my old Windows XP computer. Sadly, as far as I know, nobody has archived these onto the Internet Archive for anyone to see. They probably came bundled with their Windows XP PCs that had either HP Image Zone or HP Photosmart Premier pre-installed, though I'm not sure which HP software those images came from.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'm hoping by doing this video someone has the restoration discs for this system. It would be great to see that bloatware and upload it for everyone to enjoy :)

[@Squonk06]

My family had an a1600n from 2006 which came in exactly the same case as your unit and had an Athlon X2 3800+, 1 GB of RAM, a 200 GB HDD and integrated nVidia graphics. I seem to remember it costing around $600 on sale near the end of 2006. We also had an m7640n, which was a higher up model from the same year with an X2 5000+, 2 GB of RAM, a 320 GB HDD and the same integrated graphics. I think it was around $900, and I can't remember if it was on sale or not. It was one of the ones with the media bay for a separate drive, which I also ended up getting. HP called this a PMD, or Personal Media Drive. The PMD was effectively an external SATA HDD enclosure with, in my case, a 500 GB drive preinstalled. It used a standard USB B port and a barrel jack for power, and there were corresponding male connectors for USB B and power inside the media bay. The unit also came with a power adapter and USB A to B cable so it could be used as a normal external drive, which was convenient because otherwise you would have had to furnish your own in order to use the drive anywhere outside the PC's media bay. Being just a particularly shaped external HDD meant the PMD was shuckable if you wanted (which was useful when I managed to knock it off a table one day while using it with my laptop, which promptly killed the drive; at least I could still use the enclosure for other drives I had). As for getting hold of the factory image for your machine, I happen to know from experience that a set of discs made for the a1600n worked perfectly when I needed to restore the m7640n. Granted, these two machines are more similar to one another than either is to your model, but nonetheless, it might be worth giving a restore image from another HP media center PC from the same era a shot. Browsing on Archive.org, I found a couple uploads for the a1520n, which is virtually identical to my (now long gone) a1600n. From my memory, the software included with both my family's machines was similar if not identical, so I would guess all the HP media center models from 2006 had the same or very similar OEM installs.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you for all of this info!!! I will definitely take a look and see if the image will work. I have an HP Media drive here today I got years ago still working! I have since backed the data up. Thanks again!

[@furrysourcecode9809]

I got one of these in due to a damaged power button then I sold it after making the repairs. Came with one of those cpus that simulate a certain amount of cores I had upgraded.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!

[@Mill-on-da-track]

man I had one of these!

[@TheRetroRecall]

They are great systems!

[@BlizzardfurMaxxx]

i own this exact computer

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome! do you have the restore CD's by any chance??

[@pug2052]

I have a dell dimension e520 I got in Christmas 2006 shipped with Windows XP home all these years later it’s still running with media centre now installed fully patched and protected with a slight ram upgrade

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice work!!

[@pug2052]

@@TheRetroRecallthank you I’ve never gelled with windows 10 or 11 I have tried them but I just like the simplicity and familiarity of windows xp it still works it still browses the internet and I can do my invoicing on it as I need it to so why change

[@ENNEN420]

This was actually my first PC that could run any sort of games. Before this one I had this Dell Pentium 4 machine with ANCIENT integrated graphics that couldn't even run Half-Life consistently. This HP had a Pentium D, 4GB RAM and a Geforce 7300 LE and I would play a crap ton of source games and others at low FPS. I remember I replaced the GPU with a Geforce 210 and that was an actual upgrade since I was able to play skyrim at 20FPS and TF2 at 60. It's hard drive died in 2013 or so and I just got a really cheap modern laptop and did everything from there.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!!

[@Dwawa53]

I actually have this desktop; I ran win 7 on it and was able to play some of my favorite games (in 2023)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Excellent!!

[@WhatTheFlash-cx6ox]

2:57 🤯 I don’t remember these types of drives tbh. Kind of blows my mind that it was even a thing.

[@WhatTheFlash-cx6ox]

Amazing that this still has the stickers and in such good condition as well. If it were mine back in the day, I’d have removed them within a few days, only the intel sticker would have survived the sticker cull

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup, HP Media Drives :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, I was guilty of keeping the stickers on.. And seeing this system today with the stickers makes me happy haha. I just need to find the restoration cd's.

[@brojack3570]

I Love That System, I have a one myself!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Amazing! Hopefully it is still in use :). Does yours have the tuner card?

[@brojack3570]

It sure does!!@@TheRetroRecall

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!! When you get a moment, let me know the model (if you don't mind) of the tuner card. Also, do you have the original restore disks for your system?

[@laurencejohnson4106]

Well saved!👍👍It's a fine looking case and it's in decent condition, 2 gig., of ram., is the maximum which that system can handle.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I actually think it could do 4gb!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

@@TheRetroRecall Hello, you could try that, but according to the HP specifications 2 gig., is the maximum.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Let the fun begin!

[@laurencejohnson4106]

@@TheRetroRecall 👍👍

[@HiddenAdept]

Had a HP Pavilion A1630N during high school, looked pretty well identical to this. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz dual-core CPU, 2GB RAM. If I remember correctly had a Nvidia Nforce Chipset so had GeForce 6150 integrated graphics? Ended up buying a ATi Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB for it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!

[@KemalALKIN]

hello ✅ this channel so retro🎉

[@TheRetroRecall]

Welcome!!

[@KemalALKIN]

@@TheRetroRecall Hello from Turkiye

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hi from Canada!!

[@stevencamp6824]

I had one similar, was the a1640n

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice. Must have been slightly better specs?

[@stevencamp6824]

@@TheRetroRecall had a core2 duo

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!

[@roveradventures]

I have one similiar. I used the CPU out of it to rebuild my childhood xp gaming system. Found out it was a fairly decent model with a 4400+ dual core lol (2.2ghz) I had it up to about 2.4 with a non OC designed board.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! The more I played around with this system the more capable I found it. Would have definitely been great back in the day

[@doseofl0s]

My dad very nearly bought a slightly newer revision of these at CompUSA back in late 2006 that shipped with XP Home Edition but was labeled as “Vista Ready.” My dad didn’t like the idea of having to get a new computer then dealing with an OS upgrade a month or two down the line, so we ended up getting an iMac instead. I’m really curious what that alternate universe version of me that got the HP would be like. Regardless once I have room to get my collection started I’ll try to get one of these.

[@TheRetroRecall]

First off thanks for sharing this story. It's funny.. I was the opposite of this. I was a pc guy as a kid, but really wanted MAC products as a lot of my friends had them. They relied on me as I had a 'really cool pc' and I like theirs as they were different. Either way in the end my dad said no to me for a MAC purchase.. And I stayed PC in the end. How would I be today if I went down the Mac road :). Either way I will bring whatever content I can to TheRetroRecall channel :)

[@geoffreyreuther5260]

4:07 - you're probably not going to find the correct HP shade of gray plate for that floppy drive. This model of Pavilion never came with a FDD from the factory, and was built about 2 or 3 years after HP stopped building units with them (and this was probably one of the last models that still had a FDD controller on board). That particular drive is from an older Pavilion where the eject button and drive bezel are build into the computer's front fascia, circa 2001.Yup

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for this info! It would be good to get something there, so hopefully the one I have will be somewhat close :)

[@vornadopro6502]

I have a still working HP Pavilion from April 2008 with Windows XP.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha that's awesome!!! I love hearing that the machines I feature are also out in the world being persevered and working away. Nice!

[@magnahelix]

I still have a similar model, the Pavilion Media Center TV m7680n with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. I have it hooked up to a TV with an OTA TV card. I'm surprised it's lasted this long, but the DVD drive eventually died 2 years ago.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome!! I'm going to hook it up myself for some retro media center stuff lol

[@aarontrupiano9328]

the cmos battery in my old optiplex lasted for about 15 years before it finally died. the only think i can think of is it sees regular use so it was keeping time with line power and not actually using the battery. michal mjd did a video on those windows dancers. there's actually a bunch of them that were included

[@TheRetroRecall]

15 years.. Wow. I'll also have to check out his video. Thanks!

[@SGTMacBC]

Lightscribe software is still available. But, it is only compatible with Windows 8 and earlier operating systems. I still use it and have no problem putting them in any PC from 2013ish and earlier.

[@TheRetroRecall]

This is great info to know. Thank you!

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

Interesting to note is that HP were making multimedia machines up until the late 2010s. The slimline s5 series actually have an infrared blaster built into the front panel, all you need is a compatible tv tuner to use it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I'm wondering if I stick a tuner card in this and a USB receiver for a remote if I could get that going.

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

@@TheRetroRecall It's possible, granted setup in XP media center is kind of a pain since the web servers have been offline for a few years now.

[@TheRetroRecall]

There have been random projects popping up restoring old networks. I'm going to take a peak around.. The retro community is really strong!

[@RedKingBadger]

I had this PC and was never able to get the lightscribe to work. Drove me crazy.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha. Well this was no exception lol.. This drive is broken too lol. I'm going to try to get it repaired and test out the lightscribe. It was something I never used!

[@Arthurcute4]

This was my family's PC. When I built my own computer in 2020, I used this case for it because I didn't feel like buying a new case.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha awesome. What did you put in it for your 2020 build?

[@spywarefinder]

This gives me flashbacks to around 2007 when we upgraded our computers graphics card to the Zotac GeForce GTX 465! It was always a fear that the PCI Express Lane would block the SATA ports! How things have moved on…!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha yes, so true!

[@abdullakc]

Xp media Center was my favorite Windows

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!

[@abdullakc]

@@TheRetroRecall thanks man!

[@kd7cwg]

I still have a lite scribe dvdrw, and a HD dvd drive with no playback software 🤣. The lightscribe drive hasn't been used in so long it sticks now

[@TheRetroRecall]

I will be taking the drive apart and seeing what I can do to repair it.!

[@XeonProductions]

Yes you needed special lightscribe discs. I still have some, but it was always a gimmick because the labels were so light with poor contrast they didn't really look that good.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Great to know! I'm assuming that you can still get them.