hi!
the good news is:
I finally found a version of linux that actually runs on my old Compaq 1700 lappie, even the wireless card!
(have given up on the internal Conextant HCF modem)

the bad news is:
every distro I've tired reports something like
Vendor PTLD System DSDT Rev 0x0604000 has a ACPI BIOS problem
ACPI multiple fatal errors

I know ACPI is the software power management system; I'm wondering if I'm doing any damage by trying these LiveCD distros?
The computer seems to run fine during my short test sessions, I can hear at least one fan run. If its a question of battery charging, I could do that from the Windows ME partition as needed- I rarely run on battery cause its so old.

Could I do some settings manually that would do the same as ACPI?