diff --git a/app/collins/models/LshwHelper.scala b/app/collins/models/LshwHelper.scala
index 4a6f27bb2..72df84c8c 100644
--- a/app/collins/models/LshwHelper.scala
+++ b/app/collins/models/LshwHelper.scala
@@ -213,14 +213,14 @@ object LshwHelper extends CommonHelper[LshwRepresentation] {
       val baseDescription = amfinder(seq, BaseDescription, _.toString, "")
       val baseProduct = amfinder(seq, BaseProduct, _.toString, "")
       val baseVendor = amfinder(seq, BaseVendor, _.toString, "")
-      val baseSerial = amfinder(seq, BaseSerial, _.toString, "")
+      val baseSerial = amfinder(seq, BaseSerial, x => if (x.isEmpty) { None } else { Some(x) }, None)
       Seq(ServerBase(baseDescription, baseProduct, baseVendor, baseSerial))
     }.getOrElse(Nil)
 
     val filteredMeta = meta.map { case(groupId, metaSeq) =>
       val newSeq = filterNot(
         metaSeq,
-        Set(BaseDescription.id, BaseProduct.id, BaseVendor.id)
+        Set(BaseDescription.id, BaseProduct.id, BaseVendor.id, BaseSerial.id)
       )
       groupId -> newSeq
     }
@@ -229,12 +229,15 @@ object LshwHelper extends CommonHelper[LshwRepresentation] {
 
   protected def collectBase(asset: Asset, lshw: LshwRepresentation): Seq[AssetMetaValue] = {
     val base = lshw.base
-    Seq(
+    val expectedAttrs = Seq(
       AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseDescription.id, base.description),
       AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseProduct.id, base.product),
-      AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseVendor.id, base.vendor),
-      AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseSerial.id, base.serial)
+      AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseVendor.id, base.vendor)
     )
+    base.serial match {
+      case Some(x) => expectedAttrs ++ Seq(AssetMetaValue(asset, BaseSerial.id, base.serial.get))
+      case None    => expectedAttrs
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/app/collins/models/lshw/ServerBase.scala b/app/collins/models/lshw/ServerBase.scala
index eee1378cf..0400ed353 100644
--- a/app/collins/models/lshw/ServerBase.scala
+++ b/app/collins/models/lshw/ServerBase.scala
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ object ServerBase {
       (json \ "DESCRIPTION").as[String],
       (json \ "PRODUCT").as[String],
       (json \ "VENDOR").as[String],
-      (json \ "SERIAL").as[String]))
+      (json \ "SERIAL").asOpt[String]))
     override def writes(serverbase: ServerBase) = JsObject(Seq(
       "DESCRIPTION" -> Json.toJson(serverbase.description),
       "PRODUCT" -> Json.toJson(serverbase.product),
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ object ServerBase {
 }
 
 case class ServerBase(
-    description: String = "", product: String = "", vendor: String = "", serial: String = "") extends LshwAsset {
+    description: String = "", product: String = "", vendor: String = "", serial: Option[String] = None) extends LshwAsset {
   import ServerBase._
   override def toJsValue() = Json.toJson(this)
 
diff --git a/app/collins/util/parsers/LldpParser.scala b/app/collins/util/parsers/LldpParser.scala
index 433bea3dd..203ec3346 100644
--- a/app/collins/util/parsers/LldpParser.scala
+++ b/app/collins/util/parsers/LldpParser.scala
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ class LldpParser(txt: String) extends CommonParser[LldpRepresentation](txt) {
   }
 
   protected def findVlans(seq: NodeSeq): Seq[Vlan] = {
+    // TODO(gabe): make this less brittle and handle missing vlan-id
     (seq \\ "vlan").foldLeft(Seq[Vlan]()) {
       case (vseq, vlan) =>
         val id = Option(vlan \ "@vlan-id" text).filter(_.nonEmpty).getOrElse("")
diff --git a/app/collins/util/parsers/LshwParser.scala b/app/collins/util/parsers/LshwParser.scala
index d1a12a778..97dbfa0d0 100644
--- a/app/collins/util/parsers/LshwParser.scala
+++ b/app/collins/util/parsers/LshwParser.scala
@@ -184,13 +184,14 @@ class LshwParser(txt: String) extends CommonParser[LshwRepresentation](txt) {
     // the correct element
     if ((elem \ "@class" text).toString == "system") {
       val asset = getAsset(elem)
-      val serial = (elem \ "serial" text)
+      // serial may be missing, so be flexible here and allow it to be absent
+      val serial = (elem \ "serial" headOption).map(_.text)
       ServerBase(asset.description, asset.product, asset.vendor, serial)
     } // To spice things up, sometimes we get <list>$everything</list>
     // instead of just $everything
     else if (((elem \ "node") \ "@class" text) == "system") {
       val asset = getAsset(elem \ "node")
-      val serial = (elem \ "serial" text)
+      val serial = (elem \ "serial" headOption).map(_.text)
       ServerBase(asset.description, asset.product, asset.vendor, serial)
     } else {
       throw MalformedAttributeException("Expected root class=system node attribute")
diff --git a/app/views/asset/show_overview.scala.html b/app/views/asset/show_overview.scala.html
index 03a9e50a5..42d611963 100644
--- a/app/views/asset/show_overview.scala.html
+++ b/app/views/asset/show_overview.scala.html
@@ -24,13 +24,15 @@ <h3>Asset Overview <small>System and user attributes</small></h3>
         }
         @if(aa.addresses.size > 0) {
         <tr>
-          <th>Ip Addresses</th>
+          <th><strong>IP Addresses</strong></th>
           <td>@TagDecorator.decorate("IP_ADDRESS", aa.addresses.map(_.dottedAddress).toList, ", ")</td>
           <td>Primary IP Addresses</td>
         </tr>
         }
         <tr>
-          <th>Asset Tag</th>
+          <th>
+            <strong data-rel="tooltip" title="" data-original-title="TAG">Asset Tag</strong>
+          </th>
           @if(SoftLayerConfig.enabled && SoftLayer.isSoftLayerAsset(aa.asset)) {
             @slLink(aa.asset, aa.asset.tag)
           } else {
@@ -40,7 +42,7 @@ <h3>Asset Overview <small>System and user attributes</small></h3>
         </tr>
         <tr>
           @defining(aa.asset.nodeClass){ nodeclass =>
-          <th>Classification</th>
+          <th><strong>Classification</strong> <a href="https://tumblr.github.io/collins/configuration.html#node classifier"><i class="glyphicon glyphicon-question-sign" data-rel="tooltip" title="" data-original-title="Asset classification according to node classifier"></i></a></th>
           <td>
             <span>
               @nodeclass.map { nc =>
@@ -60,12 +62,12 @@ <h3>Asset Overview <small>System and user attributes</small></h3>
           }
         </tr>
         <tr>
-          <th>Asset Type</th>
+          <th><strong>Asset Type<strong> <a href="https://tumblr.github.io/collins/concepts.html#assets"><i class="glyphicon glyphicon-question-sign"></i></a></th>
           <td>@aa.asset.assetType.label</td>
           <td></td>
         </tr>
         <tr class="@statusClassFromAsset(aa.asset)">
-          <td><strong>Asset Status</strong></td>
+          <td><strong>Asset Status</strong> <a href="https://tumblr.github.io/collins/concepts.html#status & state"><i class="glyphicon glyphicon-question-sign"></i></a></td>
           <td>@aa.asset.getStatusName</td>
           @if(aa.asset.isMaintenance) {
             <td><a href="#user-log-section"><span class="label label-primary">See Notes</span></a> @aa.asset.status.description</td>
@@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ <h3>Asset Overview <small>System and user attributes</small></h3>
 @if(aa.asset.stateId != 0) {
   @State.findById(aa.asset.stateId).map { state =>
         <tr>
-          <th>Asset State</th>
+          <th><strong>Asset State</strong> <a href="https://tumblr.github.io/collins/concepts.html#status & state"><i class="glyphicon glyphicon-question-sign"></i></a></th>
           <td>@state.label</td>
           <td>@state.description</td>
         </tr>
@@ -94,7 +96,12 @@ <h3>Asset Overview <small>System and user attributes</small></h3>
         </tr>
         @MetaValueOrderer.order(aa.mvs.filter(_.getName() != "HOSTNAME")).map { case(size, mv) =>
         <tr>
-          <th>@mv.getLabel() @if(size > 1 || mv.getGroupId() != 0){(@mv.getGroupId())}</th>
+          <th>
+            <span @if(mv.getLabel().toUpperCase != mv.getName()){
+            data-rel="tooltip" title="" data-original-title="@mv.getName() @if(size > 1 || mv.getGroupId() != 0){(@mv.getGroupId())}"
+          }>@mv.getLabel() @if(size > 1 || mv.getGroupId() != 0){(@mv.getGroupId())}
+            </span>
+          </th>
           <td>
           @{
             mv.getName match {