1 General
1.1 About this FAQ
1.1.1 Where to find the FAQ
1.2 Resources
1.2.1 Internet
1.2.2 Mailing List
1.2.2.1 Unsubscribing to the mailing list
1.2.3 Companies that carry Aero parts and supplies
1.3 Technical Data
1.3.1 Exploded View
1.3.2 System Unit
1.3.3 Passive Matrix Monochrome Display
1.3.4 Passive Matrix Color Display
1.3.5 Stock Hard Drives
1.3.6 Internal Power Supply
1.3.7 Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Battery Pack
1.3.8 AC Adapter
1.3.9 Convenience Base
1.3.10 External Diskette Drive
1.3.11 Video Controller
1.3.12 Part Numbers
1.4 User Opinions
1.4.1 Is the machine really that bad?
1.4.2 Opinions on Aero features (The Quick FAQs)
1.5 Who's using an Aero
2 Hardware
2.1 Aero
2.1.1 CPU
2.1.1.1 Is it upgradeable? 
2.1.1.2 Is it FPU upgradeable?
2.1.2 Memory (RAM)
2.1.2.1 How do you upgrade?
2.1.2.3 How much are memory upgrades?
2.1.3 How to disassemble the Aero
2.1.3.1 The tale of a journey inside.
2.1.4 Hard Drive
2.1.4.1 Partitions
2.1.4.2 Noisy 84Mb hard drives
2.1.4.3 Upgrading the hard drive
2.1.4.4 Hard Drive installation
2.1.4.4.1 Prequel to the step-by-step tutorial
2.1.4.4.2 A step-by-step tutorial
2.1.4.5 Installing the old drive in your desktop.
2.1.4.6 Fixing the Master Boot Record
2.1.4.7 Aero harddrive upgrade list
2.1.4.8 External harddrive solutions
2.1.5 Screen
2.1.5.1 The pulsing backlight puzzle
2.1.5.2 The screen connection
2.1.5.3 What if my screen is unevenly backlit?
2.1.5.4 800x600x16 VGA mode
2.1.5.5 Special supported 256 color VGA modes
2.1.5.6 Special supported text modes?
2.1.5.7 Screen hinge problem (the darn "display clutch")
2.1.5.8 Screen Disassembly
2.1.5.9 Backlight Replacement
2.1.6 Keyboard
2.1.6.1 Aero keyboard diagrams
2.1.7 Trackball
2.1.7.1 Replacement Trackball
2.1.7.2 Cleaning Trackball
2.1.7.3 Ballistic Mouse driver?
2.1.7.4 Trackball and left-handedness?
2.1.8 Battery and Power Brick
2.1.8.1 Replacing the Battery
2.1.8.2 Conditioning and the Memory effect in NiMH batteries
2.1.8.2.1 Conditioning the Battery without a conditioner
2.1.8.3 Battery Warning
2.1.8.4 Batteries discharging too quickly when suspended
2.1.8.5 Super-fast recharge? Charge indicators?
2.1.8.6 Battery Monitoring
2.1.8.7 Battery Loose?
2.1.8.8 Please explain the aero battery
2.1.8.9 Recharging in the auto
2.1.8.10 Power Brick
2.1.9 Ports
2.1.9.1 Is the printer port an EPP port?
2.1.9.2 Mouse on serial port
2.1.9.3 PS/2 Mouse port
2.1.9.4 Serial Port (16550AF UART)
2.1.9.5 Port Expander (the other port)
2.1.10 Speaker
2.1.11 CMOS (ROM)
2.1.11.1 Replacing the CMOS Battery
2.1.11.2 CMOS and ROM errors
2.1.12 The Year 2000 (Y2K)
2.2 Accessories
2.2.1 Floppy Drive
2.2.1.1 Floppy Drive and BIOS support
2.2.1.2 Connecting with out powering down
2.2.1.3 Aero does not recognize floppy drive
2.2.1.4 Problems reading/formatting disks
2.2.1.5 Do you need a floppy?
2.2.1.6 You still do not think you need a floppy?
2.2.1.7 Repairing the Floppy Drive
2.2.2 PCMCIA
2.2.2.1 Should I install the new V1.25 PCMCIA driver disk?
2.2.2.2 Compaq-approved cards
2.2.2.3 PCMCIA type III cards?
2.2.2.4 PCMCIA modems (& FAX/Modems), reviews
2.2.2.5 PCMCIA FAX/Modems and Suspend/Resume
2.2.2.6 External Monitor
2.2.2.7 Sound cards
2.2.2.8 Ethernet cards
2.2.2.9 Storage Devices and Multiple function cards
2.2.3 Parallel Port devices
2.2.3.1 Sound
2.2.3.2 Storage Devices
2.2.5 Ethernet Adapters
2.2.6 Expanders
2.2.6.1 Can I make my own expander?
2.2.6.2 Mobile Port Expander
2.2.6.3 Convenience Base
2.2.7 Power Adapters
2.2.8 Case
2.2.9 SCSI
2.2.10 Other things
3 Software
3.1 Upgrades
3.1.1 Service Files
3.1.1.2 PCMCIA Drivers and Utilities
3.1.1.3 Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) Drivers
3.1.1.4 Windows Stuff
3.1.1.5 Utilities
3.1.1.6 Diagnostics and Portable Setup
3.1.1.7 Mouse Drivers
3.1.2 Softpaqs
3.1.2.1 Rundown on Softpaq installation procedure
3.1.2.2 ROMPaq versions
3.1.2.3 Install a Softpaq without using the floppy drive?
3.1.2.4 Determining the BIOS date
3.2 Configuration (see also appropriate operating system)
3.2.1 Tabular Rasa (clean slate)
3.2.2 Power-Management
3.2.2.1 Problems when Power-up from standby
3.2.2.2 PCMCIA modems and Suspend/Resume crashing
3.2.2.3 Forcing hibernation
3.2.2.4 Spin down disk/disable powersaver when on AC power
3.2.2.5 Is there a disk sleep hotkey?
3.2.2.7 Windows vs. power management and the date problem
3.2.3 Networking/Linking
3.2.3.1 Lap2Desk and WinLink
3.2.3.2 WinLink problems
3.2.3.3 Network File System (NFS)
3.2.4 Diagnostics Partition
3.3 Operating Systems
3.3.1 MS-DOS
3.3.1.1 Standard CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT
3.3.1.2 What is in CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT?
3.3.1.3 Memory managers
3.3.1.4 Disk compression
3.3.2 Windows 3.1
3.3.2.1 Problems with WinFax Lite
3.3.2.2 Windows Video driver
3.3.2.3 Problems with Windows Speaker Driver
3.3.2.4 PCMCIA Stuff
3.3.2.5 Problems with Modems/Serial Devices
3.3.2.6 32 bit disk access or no?
3.3.2.7 Windows for Workgroups
3.3.2.8 Speaker Driver
3.3.3 Windows95
3.3.3.1 The path to '95 by copying setup to the aero
3.3.3.2 The path to '95 by installing via Winlink (Lap2desk)
3.3.3.3 Win95 upgrade inventory
3.3.3.4 PCMCIA, the floppy drive, and getting it to work
3.3.3.5 Networking
3.3.3.6 Running Windows 95 and Windows 3.x
3.3.3.7 Repartitioning
3.3.3.8 Contura Aero, EPP, and Parallel Port Zip Drive
3.3.3.9 Common Problems
3.3.3.10 Internal Speaker Driver
3.3.3.11 Hibernate, Suspend, Power Management, and ilk
3.3.4 Windows 98
3.3.5 Windows NT
3.3.6 Linux
3.3.6.1 Linux and the Aero
3.3.6.2 Recommended Kernel
3.3.6.3 Conserving memory
3.3.6.4 Installation without Floppy
3.3.6.5 X-configuration for color
3.3.6.6 X-configuration for mono
3.3.6.7 HD configs, Windows, and other musings
3.3.6.8 Parallel Port Things
3.3.6.9 Monkey Distribution
3.3.7 Other UNIX
3.3.8 OS/2
3.3.8.1 Can I run OS/2on the Aero?
3.3.8.2 OS/2 Installation Problems
3.3.8.3 OS/2 Warp in 4MB RAM?
3.3.8.4 Aero floppy under Warp?
3.3.8.5 PCMCIA supported under OS/2?
3.4 Original Compaq Software Disks