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Sounds like one of HP's stock of service machines, Andreas. I took in a 41CV to be fixed some years ago; what came back was a new machine, but with the original's serial number stamped into the serial number area. So I guess they must have had machines with a blank space, ready for whatever serial number they needed to stamp there.
Best,
--- Les [http://www.lesbell.com.au]
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The back piece was most likely changed. They normally have a blank area where the serial no. is supposed to be. I changed one before, and got a new backpiece without a serial no.
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Hi Andreas,
I suppose you're german speaking but if anyone wants to follow this posting I stay w/english this time;-)
I have an HP41 case (I mean the housing) which is empty except the keyboard pcb. It has no serial number. I also have a complete cardreader housing with no serial number. The card reader housings were used for the W&W RamBox. They ordered them as spare parts from HP. As another responder said, the unstamped housings were made mainly for service/repair reasons.
BTW: I have an HP48SX w/o serial number, too;-)
Cheers
Raymond
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Joined: Feb 2009
Andreas,
It's nothing unusual. Someone probably ordered a back from HP and replaced it themselves. (yes, they were readily available.) That or HP replaced it and forgot to renumber the back. HP usually put the old SN on the replacement back. FWIW I have a HP 33E that has SN that starts with an "*" (*2014s35055). I have no idea what the meaning of that is. I also have a HP 85 with a SN that starts with "9999". So there are all kinds of strange numbers out there.
Joe