User’s Manual Wireless PCI Card Wireless11n 802.
COPYRIGHT Copyright ©2005/2006 by this company. All rights reserved.
Index Chapter I : Product Information ......................................................................................................................... 4 1-1 Introduction and safety information............................................................................................ 4 1-2 Safety Information ...................................................................................................................... 5 1-3 System Requirements.................................................
Chapter I : Product Information 1-1 Introduction and safety information Thank you for purchasing this high-speed 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless network card! Excepting common wireless standards 802.11b/g, this wireless network card is also 802.11 Draft-N compatible - data transfer rate is 300Mbps, and that’s six times faster than 802.11g wireless network! 802.11 Draft-N also provides wider wireless coverage, so you don’t have to worry if your computer is far from your wireless access point.
1-2 Safety Information In order to keep the safety of users and your properties, please follow the following safety instructions: 1. This PCI wireless network card is designed for indoor use only. DO NOT expose this network card to direct sun light or rain, snow. 2. DO NOT put this network card at or near hot or humid places, like kitchen or bathroom. Also, do not left this wireless network card in the car in summer. 3.
1-3 System Requirements ‧An empty PCI slot ‧Windows 2000, 2003, XP, or Vista 32/64 operating system ‧CD-ROM drive ‧At least 100MB of available disk space 1-4 Package Contents Before you starting to use this wireless network card, please check if there’s anything missing in the package, and contact your dealer of purchase to claim for missing items: □ PCI wireless network card (1 pcs) □ Quick installation guide (1 pcs) □ User manual CD-ROM (1 pcs) □ Detachable Antennas (3 pcs)
1-5 Familiar with your new wireless network card 1. PCI Interface 2. Antennas (Some model will only have 2 antennas) 3.
CHAPTER II : DRIVER INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION 2-1 Network Card Installation Please follow the following instructions to install your new wireless network card: SWITCH THE COMPUTER OFF, remove the cover and insert the wireless network card into an empty PCI slot of your computer. Install all three antennas on the wireless network card, and make sure the antennas are securely installed. To improve radio reception, please adjust antennas to the position shown in the picture.
Switch the computer on, the following message will appear on your computer, please click ‘Cancel’.( Vista will no such page.) 1. Insert device driver CD-ROM into the CD/DVD ROM drive of your computer, and execute ‘Setup.exe’ program in ‘Driver’ folder. Please read the end user license agreement and click ‘Yes’ to accept license agreement.
2. You can choose the configuration tool used to configure the wireless network card here. It’s recommended to select ‘Install driver and Ralink WLAN Utility’, which provides fully access to all function of this wireless network card. Or Just ‘ Install driver only ’ If you prefer to use the wireless configuration tool provided by Windows XP. 3.
4. When you see this message, please click ‘Finish’ to complete the driver installation process.
A new icon will appear at lower-right corner of your computer desktop, you can put the mouse cursor on the icon, and the status of wireless card will be displayed as a popup balloon. 5. When you want to configure your wireless connection, please right click on this icon, and a popup menu will appear. You can click ‘Launch Config Utilities’ to start configuration program. If you want to close configuration utility, please click ‘Exit’.
2-2 Connect to Wireless Access Point There are two ways you can configure your wireless network card to connect to wireless access point: using the Ralink configuration utility which comes with wireless card driver, and using built-in windows zero configuration utility. 2-2-1 Using Ralink Utility Please follow the following instructions to use Ralink configuration utility to connect to wireless access point. 1.
Here are descriptions of every setup items: SSID The Service Set Identifier of wireless access point or other network device. You can think it as the name of access point of wireless device. BSSID The MAC address of wireless access point or other network device. Unlike SSID, BSSID of every access point or network device is unique, and will not be the same with others. So you can identify a single access point or wireless device from others by BSSID, if they all have the same SSID.
Tips: Wireless access point (Infrastructure) is a network device which acts as a bridge, to let wired and wireless network devices communicate with each other. AdHoc is another connection type. A computer or network device can establish a direct wireless link with other computer or network device directly, without the help of wireless access point. 2. Click the wireless access point or network device you wish to connect, it will be highlighted, then click ‘Connect’.
If the wireless access point does not have SSID, you’ll be prompted to input it here. Please ask the owner of wireless access point and input the exact SSID here, then click ‘OK’ when ready. If the SSID you provided here is wrong, you’ll not be able to connect to this access point. If the wireless access point you selected have SSID, please skip this step.
3. If the wireless access point uses encryption, you have to input WEP passphrase or WPA preshared key. Please ask the owner of the wireless access point you want to connect, and input the correct passphrase / preshared key here, then click ‘OK’. If the value you inputted here is wrong, you will not be able to connect to this wireless access point. Authentication type is selected automatically, please don’t change it.
4. You’ll see ‘Connected <-> SSID’ (‘SSID’ is the SSID of the wireless access point or wireless device you connected to) message displayed at lower-left corner of configuration utility, congratulations, you’re successfully connected to the access point or wireless device you selected! You can put the mouse cursor over the Ralink configuration utility icon, and the brief information about link status and signal strength of current wireless connection will be shown as a popup balloon.
2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration Windows XP has a built-in wireless network configuration utility, called as ‘Windows Zero Configuration’ (WZC). You can also use WZC to configure your wireless network parameter: 1. Right-click Ralink configuration utility icon and select ‘Use Zero Configuration as Configuration utility’. 2. Click ‘Start’ button (should be located at the bottom-left corner of windows desktop), click ‘Control Panel’, then click ‘Network and Internet Connections’ in Control Panel.
3. Click ‘Connect to a network’ under ‘Network and Sharing Center’. 4. Right-click ‘Wireless Network Connection’ (it may have a number as suffix if you have more than one wireless network card, please make sure you right-click the ‘Ralink 802.11n Wireless LAN Card’), then select ‘View Available Wireless Networks’.
5. All wireless access points in proximity will be displayed here. If the access point you want to use is not displayed here, please try to move your computer closer to the access point, or you can click ‘Refresh network list’ to rescan access points. Click the access point you want to use if it’s shown, then click ‘Connect’. If the access point is protected by encryption, you have to input its security key or passphrase here. It must match the encryption setting on the access point.
6. If you can see ‘Connected’ message, the connection between your computer and wireless access point is successfully established.
2-3 Connection Profile Management If you need to connect to different wireless access points at different time, like of access point of your home, office, cybercafe, or public wireless service, you can store the connection parameters (encryption, passphrase, security etc, etc.) as a profile for every access point, so you don’t have in input these parameters every time you want to connect to a specific wireless access point. 2-3-1 Make a profile for an access point or wireless device 1.
2.
Or, you can add a connected wireless access point or wireless device to a profile by clicking ‘Network’ tab, then click ‘Add to Profile’ button:
You can set the parameter for this connection here: Here are descriptions of every setup items: Profile Name Please give this profile a name, up to 32 alphanumerical characters and symbols are allowed, but space is not allowed. SSID The SSID of the wireless access point or wireless device you selected will be displayed here. But if the SSID of access point or wireless device is not available, you have to input it here manually.
Now click ‘Auth. \ Encry.’ tab, and set the encryption and authentication settings. Here are descriptions of every setup item: Authentication Type Select the authentication type of the wireless access point or wireless device you wish to connect. If you’re adding a profile from an existing access point or wireless device, the value will be selected automatically, and please do not modify it. If you select ‘LEAP’, the following message will be displayed.
Encryption Select the encryption type of the wireless access point or wireless device you wish to connect. If you’re adding a profile from an existing access point or wireless device, the value will be selected automatically, and please do not modify it. WPA Preshared Key Input WPA preshared key here. If encryption is not enabled, or you select ‘WEP’ as encryption type, this field will be disabled and grayed out. WEP Key You can select key type (Hex or ASCII) and input WEP key here.
After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save settings and exit. The profile you just created will be displayed: Select the profile you wish to use, and click ‘Activate’ to use the profile you selected. If you want to change the connection parameters of a specific profile, just select it and click ‘Edit’ button, you’ll be prompted to input the connection parameters, just like you’re creating a new profile. If you no longer need a profile, select the profile then click ‘Delete’.
2-3-2 Using 802.1x – Certification After you click ‘802.1x Setting’, a new window will appear: Here are descriptions of every setup items: Authentication Type Please select an 802.1x authentication type here. The type you select here must be identical to the type of the 802.1x authentication type you’re using. Session Resumption You can enable or disable session resumption here. If you don’t know if you should enable session resumption or not, please ask your 802.1x authentication administrator.
Allow This box is always checked and can not be modified. unauthenticated provision mode Use protected If the authentication type you use is ‘EAP-FAST’ you can use protected authentication authentication credential by check this box. credential Remove Remove the credential you imported previously. Import Import the authentication credential file (PAC or al file format), you’ll be prompted to select a credential file from your computer.
2-3-3 Using 802.1x - CA Server If you want to use CA server, please click ‘CA Server’ tab. And the following message will be displayed: Here are descriptions of every setup items: Use certificate chain Check this box to enable the use of certificate chain. Certificate Issuer Please select the issuer of certificate from this dropdown menu. Allow intermediate Check this box if you wish to allow intermediate certificates certificates Server name Input the server name of CA server here.
2-4 View Network Statistics and Link Status The configuration utility provides information about network statistics and link status. If you want to know how your wireless network card works, you can use these functions to get detailed information about the wireless connection you’re using. 2-4-1 Network Statistics Please follow the following instructions to check network statistics: 1.
All connection-related statistics is displayed here. You can click ‘Reset Counter’ to reset the statistics of all items back to 0. Click ‘OK’ to close the window. 2-4-2 Link Status Please follow the following instructions to check network statistics: 1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2.
This information displayed here is updated every second, and here are descriptions of every item: Status Display the SSID and BSSID of connected wireless access point or wireless device (displayed as SSID <-> BSSID as shown in above picture. If there’s no active connection currently, ‘Disconnected’ will be displayed here.. Extra Inf Displays the link status (‘Link is up’ or Link is down’, and the radio transmitting power of your network card. Channel Displays the radio channel being used now.
2-5 Advanced Settings This wireless network card provides several advanced settings for experienced wireless users. You can change these settings to increase data transfer performance, or change operation mode. Please follow the following instructions to set advanced wireless settings: 1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2.
Here are descriptions of every setup items: Wireless mode Select wireless operation mode, available options are 802.11b/g mix, 802.11b only, and 802.11b/g/n mix. You can select 802.11b/g/n mix to maximize wireless compatibility with wireless access points and other wireless devices. Anyway, you can set this setting to ‘802.11b only’ when you’re going to communicate with old 802.11b wireless devices and you got problem using other two modes.
devices. Check this box if you need to connect to CCX-compatible wireless devices. Turn on CCKM Check this box to enable CCKM (Cisco Centralized Key Management), which enables wireless clients to roam between CCKM-enabled accesses points in very short time. Enable Radio When you’re connecting to CCX-compatible access point, check this box to Measurement enable radio measurement function to improve wireless connectivity.
2-6 QoS Setting(WMM) This wireless network card provides QoS (Quality of Service) function, which can improve the performance of certain network applications, like audio / video streaming, network telephony (VoIP), and others. When you enable WMM (Wi-Fi MultiMedia) function of this network card, you can define the priority of different kinds of data, to give higher priority to applications which require instant responding. Therefore you can improve the performance of such network applications.
in this window will be activated or deactivated respectively. WMM – Power Save Enable WMM power saving mode to save energy and lets your battery live Enable longer. Setting... Click this button to select the WMM data type which will suppress the function of power saving. When this kind of data is transferring, power saving function will be disabled. Available data types are AC_BK (Background / Low Priority), AC_BE (Best Effort), AC_VI (Video First), and AC_VO (Voice First).
2-7 WPS Configuration Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is the latest wireless network technology which makes wireless network setup become very simple. If you have WPS-enabled wireless access point, and you want to establish a secure connection to it, you don’t have to configure the wireless access point and setup data encryption.
2-7-1 WPS Setup - PBC (Push-Button Configuration) 1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2.
3. Push the ‘WPS’ button on your wireless access point (the button used to activate WPS standby mode may have another name), or use other way to start WPS standby mode as the instruction given by your wireless access point’s user manual. 4. Before you start to establish the wireless connection by using WPS, you can click ‘Rescan’ button to search for WPS-enabled access points near you, to make sure the WPS function of your access point is activated. All access points found will be displayed.
Tips: You can push ‘WPS’ button on network card too, it’s the same as the ‘PBC’ button in configuration utility. Sometime WPS may fail, and you can click ‘PBC’ button few more times to try again.
2-7-2 WPS Setup - PIN If the wireless access point you wish to connect supports PIN, please follow the following instructions to establish connection to it: 1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2. Click ‘WPS Configuration’ tab, and the following settings will appear: The PIN number of your wireless network card is an eight-digit number located at the upper-right position of configuration utility.
3. Click ‘PIN’ button now, and wait for few seconds to one minute. If a wireless access point with correct PIN code is found, you’ll be connected to that access point: You may have to click ‘PIN’ for few more times to try again. If you still can not connect to access point by this way, please make sure the PIN code you provided to access point is correct. Note: When you click PIN or PBC, please don't do any rescan within two minutes connection.
2-8 About The ‘About’ tab provides you the information about version numbers of configuration utility, firmware, and other important information about your wireless network card. Please follow the following instructions to see this information: 1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2.
If you need assistance about network problem, you’ll need these values. You can also click ‘WWW.RALINKTECH.COM’ button to go to the web site of network card driver manufacturer and get more information about your wireless network card. Please click ‘OK’ to close configuration utility.
CHAPTER III : Soft-AP Function Excepting become a wireless client of other wireless access points, this wireless card can act as a wireless service provider also! You can switch this wireless card’s operating mode to ‘AP’ mode to simulate the function of a real wireless access point by software, and all other computers and wireless devices can connect to your computer wirelessly, even share the internet connection you have! Please follow the instructions in following chapters to use the AP function of your
If your computer has another network card which is connected to Internet, please select it from ‘Name’ dropdown menu, and click ‘Enable ICS’; if your computer does not have another network card with Internet connection, please click ‘Not enable ICS’.
Here are descriptions of every setup items: SSID Please input the SSID (the name used to identify this wireless access point) here. Up to 32 numerical characters can be accepted here, excepting space. TX Rate Please select the data transfer rate here. The maximum TX rate you can select here depends on the wireless mode you’re using. It’s safe to select ‘Auto’ to let wireless card select a proper TX rate according to the strength and quality of radio signal. When the wireless mode is set to ‘802.
Beacon(ms) You can define the time interval that a beacon signal should be send. Default value is 100. Do not modify this value unless you know what will be affected. TX Power You can select the wireless output power here. Please select a proper output power setting according to your actual needs. You may not need 100% of output power if other wireless clients are not far from you. Idle Time Select the idle time of your wireless network card. Default value is 300.
3-2 Security Settings This wireless card supports wireless encryption in AP mode, which will encrypt the data being transferred over the air to enhance data security level. It’s recommended to enable data encryption unless you wish to open your computer (and its internet connection) to the public.
WPA Pre-shared Key Please input the WPA pre-shared key here. Only clients with the same pre-shared key you inputted here will be able to connect to your computer. This setting is only available when you select one of WPA encryptions. Group Rekey Interval You can specify the time interval to re-issue the key to your wireless clients here. You can click the button ’10 seconds’ or ‘Kpackets’ to change the unit of time interval.
3-3 Access Control If you’re not going to open your computer and wireless resources to the public, you can use MAC address filtering function to enforce your access control policy, so only wireless clients with MAC address you defined by this function can be connected to your software access point. Please follow the following instructions to set access control based on MAC address: 1. Right-Click Ralink configuration utility icon, and select ‘Launch Config Utilities’ 2.
Here are descriptions of every setup items: Access Policy Select the policy type of your access rule: Disable: Allow any wireless client with proper authentication settings to connect to this access point. Allow All: Only allow wireless clients with MAC address listed here to connect to this access point. Reject All: Reject wireless clients with MAC address listed here to be connected to this access point. MAC address Input the MAC address of the wireless client you wish to allow or reject here.
3-4 Connection table If you want to see the list of all wireless clients connected to this access point, please follow the following instructions: 1. Right-Click Ralink configuration utility icon, and select ‘Launch Config Utilities’ 2.
Here are descriptions of every field: MAC Address Displays the MAC address of this wireless client. AID The serial number of this wireless connection. Power Saving Mode Displays the capability of power-saving function of this wireless client. Status Displays additional information of this wireless Connection, like current wireless operating mode and data transfer rate.
3-5 Event Log This software access point will log all wireless-related activities as a log. You can follow the following instructions to view the content of the event log: 1. Right-Click Ralink configuration utility icon and select ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2. Click ‘Event Log’ tab, and the event log will be displayed: You can click ‘Clear’ to remove all entries in the log.
3-6 Statistics If you want to know detailed information about how your software access point works, you can follow the following instructions to view the statistics of the access point: 1. Right-Click Ralink configuration utility icon and select ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2. Click ‘Statistics’ tab, and the event log will be displayed: You can click ‘RESET COUNTERS’ button to reset all counters to zero.
CHAPTER IV : APPENDIX 4-1 Hardware Specification ‧Standards: ‧Interface: ‧Frequency Band: ‧Data Rate: IEEE 802.11b/g/Draft-N 32-bit PCI 2.4000 ~ 2.4835GHz (Industrial Scientific Medical Band) 11b: 1/2/5.5/11Mbps 11g: 6/9/12/24/36/48/54Mbps 11n (20MHz): MCS0-15, 32 with Half Guard Interval Support (up to 144Mbps) 11n (40MHz): MCS0-15, 32 with Half Guard Interval Support (up to 300Mbps) ‧Securities: WPS, WEP 64/128, WPA, WPA2 Cisco CCX V1.0, V2.0 & V3.
4-2 Troubleshooting If you encounter any problem when you’re using this wireless network card, don’t panic! Before you call your dealer of purchase for help, please check this troubleshooting table, the solution of your problem could be very simple, and you can solve the problem by yourself! Scenario Solution I can’t find any wireless access Click ‘Rescan’ for few more times and see if you can find point / wireless device in ‘Site any wireless access point or wireless device. Survey’ function.
the owner of access point to ask for correct passphrase / security key. 4. The access point you wish to connect only allows network cards with specific MAC address to establish connection. Please go to ‘About’ tab and write the value of ‘Phy_Addess’ down, then present this value to the owner of access point so he / she can add the MAC address of your network card to his / her access point’s list.
4-3 Glossary 1. What is the IEEE 802.11g standard? 802.11g is the new IEEE standard for high-speed wireless LAN communications that provides for up to 54 Mbps data rate in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11g is quickly becoming the next mainstream wireless LAN technology for the home, office and public networks. 802.11g defines the use of the same OFDM modulation technique specified in IEEE 802.11a for the 5 GHz frequency band and applies it in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as IEEE 802.11b. The 802.
4. What is Ad-hoc? An Ad-hoc integrated wireless LAN is a group of computers, each has a Wireless LAN card, Connected as an independent wireless LAN. Ad hoc wireless LAN is applicable at a departmental scale for a branch or SOHO operation. 5. What is Infrastructure? An integrated wireless and wireless and wired LAN is called an Infrastructure configuration. Infrastructure is applicable to enterprise scale for wireless access to central database, or wireless application for mobile workers. 6.
11. Would the information be intercepted while transmitting on air? WLAN features two-fold protection in security. On the hardware side, as with Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technology, it has the inherent security feature of scrambling. On the software side, WLAN series offer the encryption function (WEP) to enhance security and Access Control. Users can set it up depending upon their needs. 12.
15. What is WMM Power Save? WMM Power Save is a set of features for Wi-Fi networks that increase the efficiency and flexibility of data transmission in order to conserve power. WMM Power Save has been optimized for mobile devices running latency-sensitive applications such as voice, audio, or video, but can benefit any Wi-Fi device. WMM Power Save uses mechanisms included in the IEEE 802.11e standard and is an enhancement of IEEE 802.11 legacy power save.
4-4 FCC and Other Compliance Statements Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.