>I just received an I-Opener from a friend of mine. I'm going to hack it, but have a few questions.
I'm starting late in the game too, perhaps we can help each other. The search function on here is invaluable, as many of the web sites are no longer up.
>1) Do you have to upgrade the BIOS to boot a HD?
As far as I know, yes.
>2) The screws that hold the base to the system are very strange, where can I get a tool to remove them?
Those are torx #7 I believe. Just find a small enough flat head and wedge it in, came right out for me.
After getting those off you need to figure out which rev Iopener you have. (You have at least a v3b.) I believe Rise CPU chips are v4, and non-yamaha audio chips are v5. If its a V5, you have to extract the bios chip and replace it/flash it externally. Badflash sells drop-in replacements.
>3) I'm guessing that I need some sort of a kit (44 pin IDE cable, 2.5-3.5 converter cable (to install OS), slim cpu cooling fan.
>Can I buy all of this together, or do I have to do it separately?
Jack's shop at http://www.badflash.com has lots of stuff for this. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cablesonline/44pinlapinri.html also has the hdd cable and the 3.5/2.5 adapter. Their hdd selection is poor though.
If you want help/links, drop me an email at kverne at vestus dot com .
Vestus
