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Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener Technical Stuff I-Opener Tips for New Owners Tips for beginners in this hack.

I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone I know many people are just starting this I-Opener hack....and may even be new to BBS. Here are a few tips to help you get started, and may even help avoiding getting flamed..by the likes of some lamers......#1 If you have any question, try using the search feature at the top of this page......it will usually give you the answer........#2 Getting files into an I-Opener the easy way: After you have Win98 setup and running...you can easily transfer files using Direct Cable Connect ..it's in the Accessory Directory of Win98. If you don't want to buy the special cable necessary to do this (about $12)...there is another way: simply E-mail yourself the files from another computer. Then retrieve the file from the I-Opener..........Anyone else with tips for beginners...feel free to add to the list. 07-05-2000 17:37:29

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) Searchlight When searching try to be specific, ie: don't just search for a simple words like (no boot), add something else & then Check Match All Words,doing this will be quicker and you will get better search results. 07-05-2000 19:18:01

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) Steve Get a Zip Drive. Use internet drives (www.idrive.com ?)and d/l to your IO. 07-06-2000 00:50:39

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Next tip: USB drives known for sure to work.... Zip 100 USB....Everybody has a zip drive Superdisk USB......You also get a USB floppy Simple Technology Compact Flash/USB....You can use a compact flash card from a camera or mp3 player...You don't need a power supply. Very fast.... expensive media. I have used all these devices with my I-Opener. 07-06-2000 16:28:41

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Here's the best I-Opener utility I ever found. http://www.tweakfiles.com//diagnostic/cpucool.html This utility does more things than you would ever believe. Register it and the temperature readings appear in color on the task bar. It's worth every penny $13 07-07-2000 16:24:41

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Next tip: I know some threads on this board talk about using a 17mm thick internal hard drive. When I tried it, I found the only way to get it to fit, was to force the case back together. This is not the thing to do....for the sake of the drive, as well as the m-board. Consider 12.5mm as a maximum hard drive thickness. With that size, using the Codeman mod kit2, you will have aprox 1mm clearance between the drive and the rf shield. 07-08-2000 15:10:42

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Next tip: Use your sandisk for an emergency boot disk http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1315&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= This described procedure works well, and could easily save you from opening the case again....that gets real old. 07-09-2000 15:08:38

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Next Tip: having problems after a new ram chip install? So did I..http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1228&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=1&Session= Clean everything well before blaming the chip. 07-10-2000 15:53:38

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Neat Utility: Miss having a hard drive activity led? Rather than a difficult solder job, here's a software solution that works well on the I-Opener...http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bohdan/home.htm 07-10-2000 16:44:13

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone This computer is slow....You're right. But it could be your setup slowing you down also. Here's something to try (Windows users only). Try turning off all un-necessary TSR's. Click on start button, run, type MSCONFIG, enter, startup folder, then uncheck all un-necessary programs.....many of these will be background programs you didn't even know were running....reboot. You'll be running faster. For more help try this http://Tweakfiles.com/ One other thing: get a 128 meg pc100 sodimm. You need it with this computer. 07-11-2000 16:01:22

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone The list of people who have fried this computer while working on it is long. Don't add your name. When working over the board, and for sure if is powered up, remove all jewelry, everything from your shirt pockets, and don't have any glasses of liquid anywhere close. These are disasters waiting to happen. Think twice, three times even, before you plug in any IDE cables, or devices. Make 100% certain you've got it right. This computer will never be easy to get fixed. 07-12-2000 16:45:04

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Having pains with this computer? Maybe it's not your imagination. It has been long recognized in the computer industry that the ideal viewing angle of a screen is eye level. Another NPLI mistake.....For long periods of use, it would probably be better to raise the I-Opener, depending on how tall you are, on some sort of stand. Mine sits on a wooden, two tier shelf, (Sam's Club), with an external hard drive and cdrom on the top tier, a usb super disk on the bottom. The whole thing raises the I-Opener 7" , and really helps out for long periods of surfing. 07-13-2000 18:46:13

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Here's my take on fans and cooling. First. get a program that measures cpu temperature, and puts the reading in the system tray, so you can see what's happening(Windows...you're on your own with Linux). I use Cpucool.....but there are other programs that do the same thing. Remember one thing: the #1 killer of electronic devices is heat. Most of the devices we put in this computer will list the max. operating temperature as aprox. 55C. Now i'm sure this temp. can be pushed, but who knows for how long? It stands to reason, and can be proven, that a cooler device will have a longer life than one run at its max. operating temp. OK...I am using a Tennmax fan with a Winchip2.....but I have tried other fan setups. I also use the CPUCool cooling program.....I have successfully used CPUIdle also. With a room temp of 78F, right now the CPU temp is 32C. With max CPU usage (Winamp). after a few hours, the temp will climb to 36/37C. From my viewpoint, trying to run this computer with an internal hard drive and no fan, is inviting an early death due to excessive heat. If you mounted the hard drive externally.....used the stock heat sink and a cooling program......You might be ok heat-wise....I never tried that. There is another thing you could do: set a small desktop fan (say 3") blowing on the back of the I-Opener......This really works well at removing internal case/heat buildup. But for me, I want to see this computer running at no more than 38C. I want this thing, which was built with care, at a moderate cost, to last for quite a while, and that means keeping it cool. 07-14-2000 17:21:19

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Look......I don't own this thread. I'm certain other hackers have useful tips......help me out. 07-14-2000 17:59:29

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) i-bill Major tip! NEVER, NEVER flash the iOpener modem firmware. There is a file on the ActionTec website that claims to be designed for the modem in the iOpener. It is not! If you flash your iOpener modem, it will never work again. There is no support for this modem. ActionTec will not help and neither will Netpliance. So no matter how clever you think you are, you will regret flashing your modem! 07-14-2000 18:14:15

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Basic parts needed for a Win 98 install, with an internal hard drive: The easy way....A BIOS chip (V1) from Badflash, A codeman Mod2 kit ( hard drive mt. plate, ps2 splitter, Special IDE cable, misc screws), a 12.5mm thick (or thinner) laptop hard drive, consider 850meg a bare minimum using win98, a 2.5/3.5 IDE adapter (Dalco.com), a full copy of Win98..not an upgrade, a Tennmax fan. You need to download the Video driver, the audio driver, and the modem driver ( you might get the sound and modem working using the Win98 cd). You can find links to these on this board. You also need a working standard computer.....You need a standard keyboard (ps2) and a ps2 mouse to adjust the BIOS settings in the I-Opener. Once set up, you could use the supplied keyboard (it's a POS). You might need a #8 tamper-proof torx screwdriver (depending on your version of I-Opener), a single edge razor and very small screwdrivers (radio shack) for epoxy scraping. You need a good work area with a lot of light..no distractions....and some free time. Of course there are other ways of doing this....but using these parts you stand the best chance of success. Oh..one more thing.....patience,patience,patience. 07-15-2000 11:29:39

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Got a laptop computer with an easily removable hard drive? I used my Thinkpad 760CD to setup my I-Opener hard drive. First I had an extra IBM hard drive with Win95 on it. I hardly ever used it so I decided to use it in my I-Opener. I put it back in the Thinkpad...devided it into two partitions using Partition magic...Dragged the Win 98 Setup Folder from a full version of the Win98 CD to the second partition, also copied the various I-Opener driver files to the second partition, added the various utilities I use, and the driver for my USB Zip Drive. I then rebooted using the Win98 boot disk. At the DOS prompt, I typed Format C: /s This eraced Win 95, added DOS, and made the drive bootable. Then I installed the IBM drive into the I-Opener.....Set the boot order to C only, let the BIOS recognize the hard drive, and booted to the DOS prompt. At the prompt I typed cd d ......Hit enter, typed cd win98... enter......Typed setup....enter ....and the Win 98 installation was under way. No sweat.....you need a laptop with a removable hard drive to do this or borrow one. The whole operation took less than two hours. Thanks IBM. 07-15-2000 17:20:21

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Windows 98 is a work in progress....sort of like a perpetual beta. Use your Windows Update to keep it working at its best. The final (?) version of IE5.5 is now available. I just downloaded it to two computers...including my I-Opener. No problems at all (20 mb) and it seems to have perked it up. I use a program called Cybermedia Uninstaller to track all software changes. If there are any problems after an install, they can be fixed with this program....you can go back. I've never had to do this with a Windows update...but it has saved me with other software which caused problems after an install. I also make a new image of my C drive every few weeks. Using that image.....I can completely restore a completely screwed-up system. Nothing is more frustrating than having to re-format a (formally) perfectly setup hard drive. 07-16-2000 05:30:27

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Your I-Opener has a fragile, breakable screen. On this board various persons have talked about their broken screens....from dropping to trying to force the case together with a too thick hard drive. Here's my screen protection: At the local hardware store I bought a thin piece of plexaglass 8"x10"....you can buy them pre-cut in this size. To make a neat install, using Photoshop, I made a custom frame 8x10 aprox3/4" wide.....printed it on a piece of adheasive sticker paper....covered the sheet with a 8x10 clear adheasive laminate ..... then cut out the center of this sheet to match the I-Opener's screen. I carefully applied this frame to the plexaglass. To attach this to the I-Opener first clean the edge of the I-Opener's bezel carefully with Windex......roughen the inside of the plexaglass with sandpaper(not visable, behind the printed frame) Apply layers of Scotch mounting tape so the plexaglass sits flat on the I-Opener, to the inside of the corners, already roughened. Carefully center this on the I-Opener bezel. Allow to set up overnite before setting it up straight. Depending on your artistic talents...you can customize to your heart's content. Plexaglass scratches...clean it with a soft cotten rag. If you ever break the I-Openers screen...you're S.O.L. 07-16-2000 08:18:32

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) Busdriver I've just started hacking mine, but I can offer some advice. A good DMM is critical if you are making your own cables, tape needles to the probes to get at the bios chip and pins on IDE cables. If you are taking the converter to custom 3.5 cable route, an automatic stripper will be very handy, plus you can strip the cables in pairs with one. Buy all the parts at once from the same place to save alot of money on shipping (This was supposed to be a failry cheap project... I was wrong) Don't waste mailing lables on getting that crap left behind from the silver sticker on the back, use regular packing tape, works in about 2 pulls. De-Solv-It can get rid of any leftover residue, or adhesive you might find. The srew things on the par. port will be superglued (That blue crap) use the right size nutdriver type tool. V4 If you cant find a screwdriver that will work to get those torx out, buy an eyeglass repair kit, it'll be the right size. V4 For pre-buyers: If you get asked TOS questions, and are paying cash... have fun with it! Make up a new name, address ect. Just be sure the zip code matches the town you give them and state. :) This messageboard is NOT the only place for info, I frankly have found some better sites, just visit everyone's links page. Don't forget about reversing the mouse and KB on your PS2 adaptor. 07-16-2000 11:00:42

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone The BIOS chip: the single cause of many problems. This is a difficult problem for many people. My badflash chip works just fine..getting it to seat properly is the problem. If you damaged the socket scraping goo, you're in real trouble. A broken corner can be fixed with a small cable tie around the base of the socket. Bent pins can be straightened with small screwdrivers, dental picks, bent straight pins, etc. Just be careful with the operation, a slight tweak is all that's needed. Break a pin.....good luck. Even after all this the BIOS chip still may not seat. Don't blame the Badflash chip....it's still the connection. Clean everything off....I use Parks lacquer and epoxy cleaner. Scrap the pins of the socket and the chip carefully with a small screwdriver. When inserting the chip try different depths. Don't just push it all the way down. I don't recommend doing anything with the chip while it's powered up, but others use this method. It's risky. Sometimes my system will reboot on its own....this is a symptom of a bad chip connection. I normally reach through the ram door and apply gentle pressure to the BIOS chip, which remakes a good connection. If there is a perfect solution to this problem...I don't know about it. But remember the one thing...It's the connection. 07-17-2000 03:27:46

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone I use the Action Tech modem driver found on this board....It seems faster and by moving your pointer over the connection icon on the task-bar, you will get the correct connection speed. However....Windows98 phone dialer won't work with this driver. To fix that, just go to control panel, add new hardware, modems, and add a Standard 56k, v90 modem. Change your phone dialer settings to use that modem....now everything works. 07-17-2000 17:04:28

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone I'm just starting a hack of a V4 I-Opener, which took almost four months to get from CrapUSA. My V2 works fine. I found a local easy source for #8 tamper-proof torx screwdrivers. It's a std item for MAC tools, my local driver had one on his truck. Cost...expensive...$16. But my tool allowance at work just covered it. Ho.Ho. If you F*** up one of these screws, it could be a lot of trouble. Flag down one of their trucks...or find out from a local shop when the MAC man stops there. 07-18-2000 04:11:23

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) NotSundog Save your money. There is absolutely no need for Torx screwdrivers. EITHER of the jeweler's screwdriver kits at Radio Shack will have one that fits. If you get the plastic-handled one, it's the grey one (I think). Doesn't just KIND OF work, it fits PERFECTLY. Of course if you're looking for an excuse to buy tools then by all means go ahead! ;) BTW I have a V3 and two V4's. 07-18-2000 14:46:52

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone The standard I-Opener hack involves installing a laptop hard drive internally in the I-Opener case. This is not the only way. In fact, mounting a hard drive externally might be a better solution. You could use the stock heat-sink without cutting it up. It would remove another source of heat from the case. It would give you a lot of internal room for other hacks. I recommend using a laptop drive for this solution. It would remove the necessity for a 12v power supply(if you were to use a 3.5 drive). You can get custom length 44pin cables here:http://www.badflash.com/iopener.htm My IBM laptop drive came in a small "caddy", a small black plastic case that could easily be attached to the rear of the I-Opener. It would even look good....something to consider. 07-18-2000 17:19:12

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) nick lame well i'm a moron and i got a v2 workin i had to solder a 40 pin hd cable onto the header and used a laptop hard drive with a 40 pin adapter running the cable out the ram door i cut a big piggy bank notch in the base and cut the struts out and stuck it in there with a zip tie oh yea i had to run a power wire down to the adapter but only one wire no ground needed as the 40 pin has about 10 grounds in it also my advise cut the part of the shield that goes to the parallel port nuts so you dont have to remove them when you have to open it up again and again i put a hd activity light in it aiming at the light pipe i had to shave it into a rectangle with a belt sander i used a ultrabrite red nopw it looks like the devil when it is accessing the hd if you want a liteon ultra brite red led(funny they put the notch on the positive side (that had my project stalled for a couple minutes) send me a sase envelope and i'll send you one i'll send ya a scan if ya want to email me at 2000man@wongfaye.com "flame on", the human torch of the fantastic 4 07-18-2000 17:54:19

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) BallBreaker Great tip for getting programs to the I/O: Sign up with www.driveway.com for free file transfer space. Upload any programs you want to install to your I/O there and then download them to your I/O using your FREE Internet access program (Bluelight.com for example). Run the setup and you're set... 07-18-2000 21:15:10

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone There have been reports about broken connectors on the back of the I-Opener. I think to be on the safe side, be very careful with your cable routing. Do not stretch any of the cables you're using. Try to make a loop with each cable..free play. A stretched parallel cable, or any of them, could put a heavy strain on the m-board. Remember....this device was made as cheaply as possible. 07-19-2000 03:54:17

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone I've been very lucky getting computer parts off E-Bay. My 128meg sodimm cost only $70. However there are a few tricks to get the best price. Try to find somebody selling a lot of the same item at once. They usually go for the minimum bid. Search in all catagories...Some people will place items in the wrong catagory, which will get few bids. Track closing prices on a particular item for a few days....You'll then have an idea what they're worth. And be patient. If you miss out on one....they'll probably be another in a few days. Try dealing with sellers with a lot of positive feed-back...it's safer. Good luck! 07-19-2000 04:10:09

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Well....I just went through this password stuff.....I hope these new rules don't deal a death blow to this board. Censorship never does any good...even if it eliminates the lamers.(my 2 cents) Having trouble with Win98 and your Yamaha sound chip. You're not alone....http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=807&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= You can actually get a decent volume using WinAmp 2.6, if you adjust the pre-amp settings upward. Try it. 07-19-2000 16:42:41

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile What is a Hacker? I've heard some people say, on this very board, that you're not a hacker unless you do everything for yourself, including BIOS chip flashing, hard drive bracket making, etc. To that I say CRAP! I'll admit to buying my chip from Badflash,and a Codeman Mod2 kit. But thats it. The rest of the operation was a 100% hack by myself, using information from this board. I did the whole thing with the intent of having a working computer, and sure, I learned a few things......but I wanted something useable....not a Radio Shack project board with a few wires hanging off it. And to those of you who say I'm not a true hacker.....Did you write your own video driver? Did you widdle out your own hard drive? I doubt it. No. I'm a real hacker....and so is any one of you who turns this useless internet box, into a real computer. 07-20-2000 16:16:53

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here's a program that will turn your I-Opener into a digital picture frame with sound.http://www.n-media.com/slide.htm It can be used as a screensaver which will start the I-Opener digital slide show simply by turning it on. It can play mp3s along with the slide show. The whole things works perfect on your I-Opener. One hint: for picture files, use jpg compression...keep the slides under 250k...this will give the best, smoothest performance. 07-20-2000 17:41:26

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Ever hear of Benchmarking? It's a good, accurate way to compare your system to another. Using it you can really tell if that upgrade or overclock did any good. SiSoft Sandra 2000 is just such a \program.http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/ This is a great utility program....used by many people on this board. ......FWIW...with a winchip2....V2.....overclocked to 210mhz(soft FSB).....my cpu scores 292....fpu scores 136. Hints: do these tests right after a start (cool cpu)...disconnect all usb devices and turn off all TSRs. The scores of one version of Sandra don't necessarily compare exactly with another version. I'm using Sandra 2000 pro. This is a great program, and it can diagnose many of your problems. 07-21-2000 16:42:43

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Argg.....http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/ sorry 07-21-2000 16:44:38

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile another thing to note. If you have a V4, dont bother to install the yamaha drivers for win9x. You will get a BSOD since the drivers are not compatible with the Rise MP6 cpu. Sound will work just fine with the winchip, and intel pentiums. Also sound works just fine under BeOS5 and linux (or jailbait at least) 07-21-2000 21:37:50

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) starfish Profile -pyr- I left Win98se install the drivers it wanted for the Sound & it is working Fine on My V4. Is that what You are talking about ? or are you talking about Other Sound Driver Files, I have seen around ??? I Guess this falls under "Your Mileage may Vary !" * StarFish * 07-21-2000 23:39:16

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) android Profile I agree that the easiest mod for HD is to run the cable out the memory door, cover the electric side of the drive with plastic or tape, and then use industrial strength stickon velcro to attach it to the back of the Iopener. No heat, no cutting, original heatsink, and super easy to snap off the drive and xfer software from your desktop. I also highly recommend the Netgear PA101 USB to phone line networking device for those of you who don't want to run wires through the house. Buy.com sells it for about 75$. 07-22-2000 01:25:19

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Surge Protection......I was in Best Buy yesterday talking to a guy whose modem was fried, apparently by a close lightening strike which entered the phone line. The sad part is he thought he was protected. Only his AC was on a surge protecter, however. My advice to him was to buy a new modem and an APS (battery) with surge protection of both AC and modem line. You can find these things with insurance policies which will pay for blown devices. Hint: in order for these things to work, they require a 3 prong (grounded) outlet. I don't plug anything electronic(expensive) into the wall without one. The battery ones are the best. 07-22-2000 05:54:36

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile starfish: what drivers are you using? It has been confirmed that the yamaha drivers will bluescreen when using in an iopener with a Rise CPU. Does yours have a Rise? If so, please link to where you got the drivers, or indicate what drivers they are. There are a number of us who cant get sound working in 98se 07-22-2000 11:24:57

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) starfish Profile I am using the Drivers in Win98se. I didn't have to load anything. It has the Best Drivers. I have 2, V4s with the Rise CPU (Sound is Fine !) * StarFish * 07-22-2000 12:23:40

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile As I mentioned in one of the tips above I had this kind of trouble. If you go to device manager in Win98se, try to remove all the sound/yamaha devices. When you reboot Win98 will find new hardware....point the process to the Win98 cab files and it should find the right drivers. I also had a DMA resource conflict with the parallel port which required setting changes. If you try the yamaha drivers, remember they actually end up in a Win temp folder. 07-22-2000 12:54:46

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile When I started this thread, I talked about a "few" tips. I hope this thing has been of some help.....I actually owe something to this board....without it, this I-Opener would have never been a reality. I have a large pile of computer parts sitting around...most computer people do. I needed more hard drive space for my Opener, I also needed a cdrom. Why not use the parts I/you already have? At a computer show , I bought an external, parallel port IDE hard drive case. It was in a plain generic grey box. The name on the driver is On Spec. Opening it up to install my hard drive, I found a short standard IDE cable. I substituted a two connector cable, tapped into the power supply cable and attached a slave cd/pd rom drive I had(panasonic). It works! Its not as fast as normal setups...but it's fast enough to play mp3s from any of the three new drives. Neat! Not counting the original cost of the devices.....I've got $39 in this new setup. 07-22-2000 15:54:12

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile starfish: the yamaha drivers are what is screwing everyone up with the Rise CPU. what drivers did you use? I mean what is listed as being the drivers in use in your system properties? I experimented with a few and found none that would work. let us know what ones, and the rest of us can use them instead. 07-22-2000 16:19:16

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) starfish Profile As per Device Manager, Driver is "YAMAHA OPL3-SAx WDM Driver" Provider: Microsoft, Date: 4-23-1999 Under Driver File Details, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\oplsax.sys C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32.VXD(ntkern.vxd) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MMDEVLDR.VXD C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\KS.SYS C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSCLOCKF.AX C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSVPINTF.AX C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSDATA.AX C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSINTERF.AX C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSPROXY.AX C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KSUSER.DDL Provider: Microsoft Corporation File version: 4.10.2222 Under Resources Tab, "Check mark" in "Use automatic settings" Input/Output Range 0220 - 022F Input/Output Range 0530 - 0537 Input/Output Range 0388 - 038F Input/Output Range 0330 - 0331 Input/Output Range 0370 - 0371 Interrupt Request 05 Direct Memory Request01 Direct Memory Request03 This is an OEM Version of Win98se You could Wait, for other Replies. You could Search ! 07-22-2000 17:25:52

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile The driver that is working on my setup is Yamaha...version4.06.2343...OPL3-SAx Sound System. I had to uncheck "Use Automatic Settings" and manually adjust DMA (both are 1) Irq5. This is with a WinChip2, but I don't think it matters. Very few people with the Rise chip are having this problem. Here's one more thing you can do......From device manager, remove all sound drivers,devices. Then reinstall Win98 over itself. Might work! 07-22-2000 17:59:17

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile very very odd... I installed the yamaha drivers in the first place because there were no MS drivers that worked. and not because of the DMA deal either. if you set your LPT port to just EPP it will not try to use a DMA channel and youll get no conflicts. I just wiped the install out and reinstalled again, and lo and behold this time it found the yamaha WDM drivers. very odd. Not that it really matters except for the sake of having it work just to have it work. I am using BeOS most of the time. 07-22-2000 20:51:20

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Not strange at all.....Remember, you're dealing with Windows 98 and Plug and Play(plug and pray). No two installs are ever the same. On normal computers sometimes you have to swap pci devices around in different slots to get everything to work. Here you can't do that, so you have to let windows sort things out. Knock it all you want, but you can get it to install on just about any computer, and you can usually find a driver or two that will get everything to work. Reinstalling the OS will often fix problems, don't erace anything....just reinstall windows overt itself. 07-23-2000 01:52:56

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Sorry for the typos/spelling...slipping, I guess. I took my new V4 apart today. There are almost no differences to a V2. The back of the heat sink is relieved slightly for the higher rise 266 chip. My Tennmax fan would have to be adjusted to fit. No matter...this new hack involves a different cooling solution. I measured the speakers..4 ohm. I recently found a set of small speakers 2x the size of the original....they would fit, but they're 8 ohm. I think this would lower the sound volume...but I'm not sure if it could cause any other problems. This new hack of mine involves an external hard drive and cdrom. Others on this board have gotten a setup like to work without disabling the sandisk...I'll find out. Has anyone seen some of the copy-cat I-Opener wanna-bees? Check out the NEC Poweremate 2000. It looks almost like what my new hack will look like, but it costs $2500. This I-Opener looks better all the time. 07-23-2000 10:10:35

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile larger ohm speakers will reduce the volume but they should still work just fine. besides, its not like you could turn the volume all the way up on the stock speakers anyway since they crackle with the volume control all the way up unless the bass is turned to pretty much the lowest setting. Not a big deal, I never use them anyway. next hack is to put a switch to turn the internal speakers on and off so I can just output to the line out and not have the internal speakers playing at all. One attempt I made didnt quite work since I used the ground line to switch. That didnt turn out quite the way I expected as the speakers still play, so it is clear i will have to use the driving wire with a switch in it. chalk that one up to learning experience I suppose. I never knew that speakers could still play even with no ground wire attached. 07-23-2000 11:41:03

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile The answer to your switched ground not turning off the speakers is easy. I suppose you had both ground wires connected and were attempting to turn off by removing the ground. What happened then was each speaker was finding its ground through the plus wire of the other speaker.....I see similar problems frequently. You could do it that way if you switched each ground separately. 07-23-2000 14:21:49

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) -pyr- Profile that was my first attempt but only to see if it would work since i was pretty sure it would not. Its similar to pitting the 12 and 5v rails against each other to drive a fan a 7v in a pc. since the voltages will vary they should always allow some sound because one will pit against the other when connected like that. Still I was hopeful. However what surprised me is that when the wires were removed, that is, there was no ground wire the only wire connected being the input there was still sound. And I thought that the circuit always had to be complete. next try will be simply switching on the voltage supply side. That will work for sure. i really didnt want to install 2 switches however, since I already have so many mods on the bloody thing. hmm reminds me.. I still need to attach the wires for the IR keyboard I installed in it. 07-23-2000 18:58:00

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Radio Shack.....You're lucky if you have one close to you. If you're new to this hacking stuff, a trip through its isles is the start of your electronic education. See what's available....ask questions....you might find someone there who knows something. Try to get a catalog. I once built a descrambler for the General Instruments VCII C band scrambler system, using only Radio Shack standard parts. Pyr in the previous post, could easily switch two separate grounds, using a single DPST switch from Radio Shack. Not the best place for electronic parts, but it's a good start. 07-24-2000 04:19:10

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Badflash stuff: You people don't know how good you have it. First there is the Codeman Mod2 kit. Perfect fit..all the right screws..everything you need, except.....The Badflash BIOS chip. Stop beating your head on the wall....This chip works, is guaranteed to get your hard drive booting. Doing it any other way , in my book is lame. Today I just got an order from Jack Rowland(Badflash) containing some custom 44 pin ide cables, for my external solution. You could not want a better cable. He makes these himself....you can actually talk to the man...and he cares about your order. My only complaint: He sells them too cheap. They are worth much more than he will charge you. Good work Jack.... No I don't work for him. 07-24-2000 16:34:23

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Cloning an operating system to another I-Opener: My first I-Opener is set up/running just fine. I want to move that operating system to the new hard drive of I-Opener #2, all without taking apart #1 again. Here's how I'll do it: and there are other ways. First you need an image of #1. I use the Drive Image program(Powerquest). This requires your hard drive to have 2 partitions. I recommend Partition Magic 5.0 to do this. It's the easiest/safest way to do it.From the Windows DOS prompt, using the drive image program copied onto your C drive,you can make an image of the C drive, storing it on the D drive. You can compress this image, and divide it into smaller files (say 100 megs for moving with a zip drive). You then need to get this image copied onto a cdrom. You can move the image onto a computer with a burner, in various ways. Direct Cable Connect...network connection, etc. Burn the image. I'm going to use a laptop computer, but any computer will work, as long as it has a cdrom. Install the new hard drive into your laptop. Allow the BIOS to recognize it. Then boot to a dos prompt using a Win98 startup disk. Sys the drive (Format C: /s). then reboot using the Win 98 startup disk. This time boot with cdrom support. At the Dos prompt, insert the Drive image program disk. Type PQDI, enter...then the program will start. You will then restore the image from the cdrom, onto the new drive. Install the new drive into your new I-Opener....you're up and running. Of course you'll have to let the new I-Opener detect the new drive, but that's it. Sounds more complicated than it is. This is a fast cloning program.....and will setup the new drive(say 850 megs), in a half hour or so. An operating system of 1000megs or so, can be compressed to fit on a CDROM, using this program. It works ..... 07-25-2000 15:42:49

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Windows Media Player 7.0. The final version of this free program is now available from the MS Windows Update website. I downloaded it the other day. It is CPU intensive...Playing an mp3 while the program's visualization is going, runs my CPU at 99%. I've got a winchip2, 128megs. The sound plays ok, but the images are very choppy. If your I-opener can play Mp3s, and you can do anything else at the same time with this program running.....You've got your I-Opener running really well. Start a new thread how you did it. 07-26-2000 16:32:29

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Hard drive/booting problems: If you are having booting problems with a used hard drive, or even a new one, you may have a problem with your MBR (master boot record). This is an area of your hard drive that stores various types of info. that you normally will never see. File format info is here, such as NTFS, linux partitioning, etc. There are also drive overlay programs, such as Boot Magic, EZBios, and others that use this area. Unless erased, and the drive returned to default, these things can cause many problems, such as booting issues. A standard format won't do it. Here's the fix: Boot to DOS...you can use a Win98 startup disk.. (using a standard computer during your setting up of the drive), Change to the C drive, and run this command: fdisk mbr/ This should return your new or used drive to a workable state. More info: http://www.jacobsen.sdn.dk/fdisk/ Hint: if you do this successfully you won't see anything at all happen.....no error messages..you will only return to a DOS prompt. 07-27-2000 01:51:28

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here it is again: fdisk mbr/ 07-27-2000 01:54:09

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Screwed up again. It's fdisk /mbr This is a completely undocumented command....but I've never heard of any problems with it. 07-27-2000 01:59:57

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Over-clocking: I'm not sure if this should go into an area for beginners...but....it is possible to make your I-Opener run faster. Read the whole process carefully. It works for me....the improvments are noticeable and measurable. I was only able to over-clock to "70". I also have only used this technique with a Winchip2. Take a look...http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1003&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session=ckbone.96473837259180 07-27-2000 16:13:43

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here's the link to the home page of SoftFSB: http://www.h-oda.com/ He's got some interesting things here....mostly free. 07-27-2000 16:38:20

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Free Stuff: Here's another link to a tweaking program I've been using on my I-Opener. No problems with it yet, but I still don't have any opinions on it's benefits. It's completely free http://www.tweakfiles.com/memory/cacheman.html 07-27-2000 17:44:48

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile After reading some questions, no doubt posted by people new to hacking, and really new to I-Openers, I am reminded that we all had to start somewhere. Things that are obvious to me and others, are not so obvious to beginners. I wish the order of these tips could be changed (easier stuff first), but it can't. All I can do now, is add tips as they come to me, using questions I see on this board, and other things I think might be of interest. I'm doing this to provide beginners to this hack, with one place for easy help. Hope I've been successful.......One more thing: All helpful tips are welcome. 07-28-2000 16:49:38

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile If you hit "printer" above you will get a printable version of the whole thread. If you fix it up in html format (generic, just make headings larger and bold) with some order to it, then e-mail it to me I will put it up as a link. If your browser saves it as html, all the better. I suggest grabing some other "faq" material from other threads too. If you like we can call it V1.0 and you can send me updates from time to time. 07-28-2000 21:32:52

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I don't know if I can find any more free time for such a project.....too many irons in the fire......I don't know how anybody can find time (if they work for a living) for such things. But I'm sure you know all about that. Thanks for the offer. 07-29-2000 04:20:18

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Partition Magic......This is a program that has been around for a long time. You'll hear it mentioned frequently on this board. To anyone working with computers, this is an indespensible tool. It does things no version of Windows can pull off. For instance....if you install Win98 on a hard disk, windows will not even recognize that there is a sandisk. Partition magic will recognize it, allowing you to format the sandisk, make it a bootable drive, and use it for something. See one of the earlier tips. I use partion magic 5.0, but the earlier versions will do most of the same things. The list of stuff it can do is long......anyone working with computers should have it. 07-29-2000 04:34:58

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Sound in V4: I just got my V4 going today. I set up the hard drive using an image from my V2. Just like some people posted, I got a BSOD (crash) when the Yamaha drivers loaded. I re-booted in the safe mode, and removed the Yahaha sound devices from device manager. I also went into add/remove programs and removed the yamaha Sound Program. Re-booting, Win98 found the sound card, but was completely unable to find the right driver from the cdrom. This is a mystery. I then simply re-installed windows over itself, and the sound was back. Bench testing the Rise 266....without any over-clocking....392/160, quite an improvment. 07-29-2000 14:17:59

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) redwood Profile v4, also removed yamaha driver to get it to run, but, it ran Fine with my winchip... also, I couldn't flash it with the Rise chip, but, no problem with the winchip... for those haveing problems, find someone with a winchip... now, as to performance... _is the Rise chip better? cuz, I might be looking for a winchip from someone that bought then winchip upgrade... as I do this, I swapped chips again, I think the Rise chip gets Too Hott too fast...without any heatsink, while testing this thing... thus, the crash is prolly related to that... now, I got a V5.. what a booger, gonna have to read awhile I guess.. can't get into setup, or bust into system... hummm, maybe this one I need to buy a bios chip? or try one of my other bios chips that are already done? my v4 has no goo, so, I _may get the guts to swap them... guess I haven't read yet Exactly what they have done on the V5 to slow us down... 07-29-2000 17:56:14

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Getting a cdrom to work with a harddrive is not as hard as I thought it would be. Your results may be different. Here's how: http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1509&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= I had concerns about the overall length of the IDE cable.....mine is 25". No problem however...everythings's working fine. 07-31-2000 03:08:58

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Off work today, so I spent most of it tweaking my new V4, pentium200mmx, 128meg 100mhz IBM sodimm, win 98se. I can report the Yamaha sound drivers do work with a pentium, but not with the Rise266. Not worth worrying about.... After some serious tweaking, including getting SoftFSB to overclock to 210mhz, Sandra 200 pro bench-tests my setup at cpu 425..fpu 235.(Average) The tests do vary, however. If you test two times in succession, the second test will be higher(?) Tweaking, and system tuning, do make a big difference with this computer. Also, increasing the ram amount, will make the cpu test scores higher. Not sure why,however. Happy tweaking....... 07-31-2000 16:19:27

i-Opener w/ internal 3.5" HD, CD-ROM or Floppy. Say it isn't so. (modified 0 times) pcspecialist Profile If you want a floppy drive look no further than a LS-120 (SuperDisk). They come in three flavors; USB, IDE and now SCSI. If you don't want to replace your case (with one found at http://www.mainstreettech.com/) then you will want a USB version but I personally prefer the new case and using an internal IDE SuperDisk drive along with a 3.5" hard drive. The new case will have to be modified (at least it does now) because the designer hadn't thought of the SuperDisk when he designed it. I have brought it to his attention and think he may redesign the case should he exhaust his current supply and get enough requests for one for a SuperDisk. His cases do accomodate CD-ROM drives BTW. Using a standard IDE cable with 2.5" to 3.5" adapter is an easier and more readily available option for the do-it-yourselfer also. Just plug in the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter into the motherboard and plug a modified IDE cable into the other end. By modified I mean swap wires 1 with 2, 3 with 4 and so forth but if you have read many posts here you already know that. Cost wise, the new case is less expensive if you want a fast hard drive and a SuperDisk. External SuperDisks cost double and fast 2.5" hard drives are outrageously priced. I'm still researching the best (and least expensive) source for the 12V and will post my findings if I come up with anything special. 07-31-2000 16:42:06

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Trying to run with the stock heat sink? After much testing, I gave up on it. Here's a summary of my results: http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1517&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= Using a V4 with a p200, running a 12v Intel fan (externally powered)... The back case of the I-Opener remains completely cool to the touch. 08-01-2000 05:32:38

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Drivers? You may be having troubles finding the links to the drivers for your I-Opener...here's one page that has most of them: http://www6.ewebcity.com/iopener/ The VIA 4-in-One driver is necessary to fix several problems. The latest version is 4.23...... Some people have reported problems with it. But it is necessary in order to be able to remove the Secondary IDE channel, which, if allowed to remain in Device Manager, will cause a system slow-down. After the 4-in-1 driver installs, go into device manager and remove the secondary channel. Reboot, and the secondary channel should never re-appear. 08-01-2000 16:18:41

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I'm hearing more troubles with these new 4-in-1 drivers. http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1526&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= The version I successfully installed is 5.17. Don't know if it's still available. If you searched, you might be able to find the original link on this board...that's where I got it. 08-01-2000 19:36:43

RE:I-Opener Tips for New Owners (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile This thread is getting too long. This is the last time I'll add anything to it. Here is a link to the next set of tips: http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=1533&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session=ckbone.96526397840229 I hope everyone found these tips helpful, and maybe even learned something. 08-02-2000 17:58:17

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