[Q] Does the aero support user-initiated hibernation? The skimpy hardcopy docs
and the SW is vague. The version of "compaq control center" we have is
inconsistent between the help pages and the SW. The help pages for power
mgnt->show settings lists a number of options that the software
(ctrlcntr->pwrmgmt/hib->show settings) doesn't have: modem, hibernation
timeout, AC HD idle, AC screensave. If nothing else, I'd be happy if we could
set the standby-to-hibernate threshold to a short period of time.

[Q] Does anyone know if it is possible to make the Aero hibernate without
getting a low battery first? I would have thought this would be a useful
facility (i.e., overnight), but haven't found a way to do it. Have I missed
something obvious?

When the machine hibernates a memory image is written to disk and the machine
switches off completely. Suspend shuts down most functions but still uses a
small amount of power. The problem with suspend is that it still drains the
battery if you leave the machine suspended overnight or some equivalent time.
(Incidentally, have you noticed the led flashing every so often when
suspended!). It would be nice to hibernate the machine if you know you won't be
using it for a while. It avoids having to close everything down and then bootup
next time the machine is switched on.

[A] Here's one for all of you Aero owners: on ftp.compaq.com there's a utility
that tells the computer to hibernate when you press the power button (without
pressing function) rather than just going into standby mode. I remember someone
asking about this at some point. It seems to work just fine.

-- ed. Note: see http://www.zenspider.com/~pwilk/aero_stuff.html

[A] I just put mine to sleep (suspend). It drains a little, but won't lose much
overnight. All it keeps alive are the RAM chips.

[A] There is an interesting point which some people might get surprised by. In
order for hibernate to work properly, it must be able to write the contents of
RAM to the hard disk quickly. Therefore, the space for this is set up ahead of
time; do a DIR/A C:\ and look for the file HIBRN8.DAT. You'll find a file that
is a little bigger than your RAM capacity; mine is 13,212,160 bytes.

What this means is that if you have an Aero wth 4 meg of RAM and add an 8 meg
RAM upgrade, HIBRN8.DAT will GROW by 8 meg or so. In other words, if you
upgrade your memory, you will LOSE about the same amount of hard disk space as
the amount of additional RAM you added. You could have problems if you added an
8 meg upgrade when you had only 5 meg of hard disk space. Also, this means that
if you become REALLY tight on disk space, you could turn off hibernation,
remove C:\CPQDOS\HIBRN8.EXE from AUTOEXEC.BAT, and remove the C:\HIBRN8.DAT
file. You wouldn't have hibernation, but you'd have an additional 4 meg of disk
space (or more if you have more RAM).