1Mbps Wireless LAN Card User’s Manual I
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of the seller. Disclaimer Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The material contained herein is supplied without representation or warranty of any kind.
Contents Contents About This Manual........................................................................................................................................................ V Chapter 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1 Wireless LAN Basics ...................................................................................................................................
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Statistics .................................................................................................................................................................... 27 About ......................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility ........................................................
Contents About This Manual This manual was written for the following type of wireless adapter: • Mini-PCI Wireless Adapter For brevity, throughout this manual Wireless LAN Card is used to indicate the wireless adapter. Also, the following terms/abbreviations are used interchangeably: • • • • Access Point – AP Peer-to-Peer – Ad Hoc Wireless LAN – WLAN Ethernet network – LAN – network This User’s Manual contains information on how to install and configure your Wireless LAN Card.
Chapter 1 Introduction This Wireless LAN Card is an IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN (Mini-)PCI adapter. It allows your computer to connect to a wireless network and to share resources, such as files or printers without being bound to the network wires. Operating in 2.4GHz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) radio transmission, the Wireless LAN Card transfers data at speeds up to 11Mbps. Both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure mode are supported.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Wireless LAN Basics This section contains some Wireless LAN basics to help you better understand how the product work together to create a wireless network. Local Area Network (LAN) Simply put, a LAN is a network that exists in a relatively limited area. A network is two or more computers connected together sharing files and peripheral devices such as printers.
Chapter 1 Introduction Ad-Hoc Mode The Ad-Hoc Group offers peer-to-peer connections between workstations, allowing communication between computers within range that have a Wireless LAN Card installed. A wireless Ad-Hoc network can also access a wired LAN’s TCP/IP service (such as e-mail and the Internet) by using a TCP/IP software router on an Ethernet equipped PowerBook or notebook.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Infrastructure Mode The Infrastructure network uses an AP or several APs as a gateway, linking the wireless network to a wired LAN. As a result, portable workstations or desktops on your wireless network have access to all of the features of your wired LAN including e-mail, Internet access, network printers and file server.
Chapter 1 Introduction Roaming Multiple Access Points can be installed to extend the wireless service coverage area for seamless wireless access. Within an extended service area, all Access Points and wireless clients must have the same Service Set Identity (SSID). Roaming among different Access Points is controlled automatically to maintain the wireless connectivity at all times.
Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card This chapter describes the installation process of the driver and software for the Wireless LAN Card. Proper driver installation is to allow the device to operate on your host computer while the utility software, Wireless LAN Utility, is to help you configure and monitor your Wireless LAN Card. In case you need to install the driver and software for any reason, follow the instructions described in this chapter.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual System Requirements To use the Wireless LAN Card, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements: ! ! ! ! ! 8 Pentium-class PC, 300MHz or better recommended 64 MB of RAM, additional memory recommended Hard disk space at least 30 Mbytes Windows 98(SE)/Me/2000/XP UL listed I.T.E.
Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card Installing Wireless LAN Driver and Software This section describes how to install the wireless adapter driver and software. Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP use the same setup program; however, operation system-specific situation may occur during or after the installation process. Follow these steps to install the wireless adapter driver and software. 1. Run Setup.exe from D:\Utility&Driver folder of the Software Utility CD where D is the drive letter.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual 2. When the License Agreement screen appears, click Next. • For Windows XP users, if Windows logo compatibility message appears, click Continue Anyway to proceed with the installation. • For Windows 2000 users, if you are prompted with the Digital Signature not Found alarm message, click Yes. • For Windows 98se users - When prompted to insert the installation disk, click OK. The Insert Disk screens pops up, click the Browse button to locate the driver from D:\Util
Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card 3. Click Finish. 4. Different situations will occur according to your OS. Follow the OS-specific instructions to complete the installation. For Windows 2000 and XP • The installation process is complete. For Windows ME • You will be prompted to restart your computer, click OK. • When prompted to restart your computer again, click Yes. For Windows 98se • When prompted to restart your computer, click OK.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility Once your wireless adapter driver and software is properly installed, the provided Wireless LAN Utility is ready for use. You should be able to find the wireless icon on your system tray. See the ensuing subsections for instructions on using the vendor-provided wireless utility.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Accessing Vendor’s Wireless LAN Utility To access vendor-provided Wireless LAN Utility: 14 1. Double-click the wireless icon on the system tray. 2. Click the Advanced button. 3. The vendor-provided utility is launched. You may click the menu on the left to execute corresponding tasks.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility 15
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Notice When Assessing Wireless LAN Utility under Windows XP Aside from using the vendor’s WLAN utility for configuration, Windows XP includes a Wireless Zero Configuration Utility for you to configure your wireless adapter. By default, your wireless adapter is managed by Windows XP-included wireless utility.
Chapter 3 2. Using Wireless LAN Utility On the Wireless Networks tab, uncheck the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings box and click OK. This will restore the Wireless Networks tab in wireless LAN utility. Reverting back to Windows XP-included Wireless Utility Double-click the Windows wireless icon (not the vendor’s WLAN utility icon) and then click Advanced (or Properties).
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Configuration The Config screen comprises two sections: Available Wireless Networks and Available Profiles. Available Wireless Networks The utility automatically searches and displays available “open” wireless networks in this list. Highlighting a network will pop up the related parameters used by the network.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility If you select a network and click Configure, you can configure the WEP and 802.1x settings.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Available Profiles This section allows you to add, edit and remove a profile. To add a new profile, click Add and then set up these parameters: Screen Item Description SSID Specifies the name of the WLAN group you want to participate in. For Ad Hoc mode: A network name is mandatory. The SSID for all stations in a single Ad Hoc network must be same.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility Screen Item Description Operating Mode To join an Ad-Hoc network, check the “This is a computer-to-computer (ad-hoc) network…” check box. To join an Infrastructure network where an AP is required, leave the “This is a computer-to-computer (ad-hoc) network…” check box unchecked. WEP Settings In the WEP section you may take additional measures to secure your network by using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy).
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual • Shared Key: If your targeted wireless network uses Shared Key, your wireless adapter must be set to use correct WEP to pass the authentication. If selected, your wireless adapter must use identical WEP keys as the targeted wireless network. 3. In the Network key and Confirm network key fields, enter 40bits or 104bits WEP keys in hexadecimal format. Note that the WEP keys must be the same as your target wireless network.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility 23
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Advanced Configuration The following table lists the parameters on this screen: Screen Item Description Ad Hoc default channel This setting determines which channel is to be used if your wireless adapter is the first to start an Ad Hoc network. When selecting a channel, make sure to select a legal channel according to your frequency domain. Encryption Specifies the encryption as WEP, TKIP or AES. Note: The current driver/utility only supports WEP encryption mode.
Chapter 3 Screen Item Using Wireless LAN Utility Description environment. Show icon in system tray Specifies whether to show wireless icon in the system tray. Radio Off Allows to disable/enable RF signal. Power Save Specifies the power save mode to be used. Rescan Allows to rescan the current associated network.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Status This screen displays the detailed informatoin on your current wireless connecton.
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility Statistics This screen displays the statistics data on your current wireless connecton. You can optionally click the Reset button to set the couter to zero.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual 28
Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility About The About screen displays information about the utility version.
Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility Windows XP provides built-in Wireless Zero Configuration utility for wireless configuration and monitoring. You can choose to configure your wireless network via either the wireless LAN utility as described in preceding section, or to use the Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration utility. This section only provides the essential instructions on using Windows XP wireless utility to get your wireless network established.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Note: Depending on whether your wireless network is established, the context menu may come with different items. 2. When the Connect to Wireless Network window pops up, you will see all the Access Points or Wireless LAN Cards that are available in the air. Select the wireless network you want to connect to . Figure 5-1 3.
Chapter 5 4. Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility Click Connect, then you will join the target network and this dialog window will disappear. When your wireless connection is established, the connection icon appears as below: Note: If the wireless connection can’t be established, double-click the connection icon and then click Properties. Go to Authentication tab first to make sure that you use the correct authentication type for the Wireless LAN Card.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Viewing Wireless Connection Status After you successfully connect to the Access Point or Wireless LAN Card, double-click the icon in the system tray again. This will open the Wireless Network Connection Status window where you can see the general data of the Wireless LAN Card, such as Status, Duration, Speed, Signal Strength, etc.
Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility Configuring Your Wireless Properties To configure your wireless properties, open the Wireless Network Connection Status window as described above, and then click the Properties button. This will open the Wireless Network Connection Properties window which allows you to configure more detailed items of the Wireless LAN Card. The following describes each tab of the properties window to help you do more settings of the Wireless LAN Card.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Wireless Networks This tab contains two sections: Available networks and Preferred networks described as below. Under Available networks section, you can also see all the Access Points and Wireless LAN Cards available in the air. Click Refresh to update the list of Access Points and Wireless LAN Cards.
Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility Under Preferred networks section, you can add any wireless networks that you wish to connect to. To do this, just click Add to add more Access Points or Wireless LAN Cards to the list. After you click the Add button, the Wireless Network Properties window pops up. Type your network name (SSID) and, if needed, the wireless network WEP settings.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual After you add several profiles into Preferred networks, you can change the order in which connection attempts to preferred networks are made. Just select the target wireless network and click Move up or Move down to move it to a desired position. To Access Certain Wireless Network Only If you just want to access certain wireless network type, click the Advanced button on the Wireless Networks tab to open the Advanced window.
Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility Once you finish the advanced setting, your wireless station will then connect to your desired network and the connected network will be listed under Available networks. Figure 5-6 Windows XP Configuration Utility-Set up a Network to Aceess Authentication This tab allows you to configure the authentication settings of your Wireless LAN Card.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Make sure to disable Enable network access control using IEEE 802.1X.
Chapter 6 Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card Should you need to uninstall the Wireless LAN Card and application software for any reason,, you should uninstall the associated software and then remove the hardware from your computer. Please proceed as follows. Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card Software Note: Before uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card software, please disable the utility by right-clicking the utility tray icon and select Close from the context menu.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual 42 2. Click the Windows Start > Programs > WLAN > Uninstall. 3. Click OK to proceed with the software removal procedure. 4. If the Lock File Detected screen appears, click the Ignore button.
Chapter 6 5. Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card When the following screen appears, click Finish. Subject to your Windows OS, you may be prompted to restart the computer.
Chapter 7 Troubleshooting Cannot Install under Windows 2000 When I installing the software under Windows 2000, I received the error message: “1608: Unable to create InstallDriver instance” and the program stopped installing. This error occurs when the Microsoft Network Client is not installed under Windows 2000. To install this network component: 1. Go to Control Panel and double-click the Network and Dial-up Connections icon. Right-click on the Local Area Connection, then select Properties. 2.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Radio Interference You may be able to eliminate any interference by trying the following: • Reseat the Wireless LAN Card. • Increase the distance between the wireless computers and the device causing the radio interference. • Plug the computer equipped with the Wireless LAN Card into an outlet on a different branch circuit from that used by the affecting device. • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio technician for help.
Chapter 7 Troubleshooting Cannot Connect to Another Wireless LAN Card If you cannot make a connection to another Wireless LAN Card from your computer, it could be due to one of the following reasons: • Incorrect SSID. Make sure the SSID is the same for all computers that have a Wireless LAN Card. • Changes are not being recognized by your computer. Restart your computer.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Cannot Connect to Access Point If you cannot make a connection to the Access Point, it could be due to one of the following reasons: • Make sure the Access Point have no physical connection problems. • Make sure the SSID for the Wireless LAN Card is the same as the Access Point. • Make sure the security settings are the same as that of Access Point.
Appendix A Limited Warranty Wireless LAN Hardware The seller warrants to the end user (“Customer”) that this hardware product will be free from defects in workmanship and materials, under normal use and service, for 1 year from the date of purchase from the seller or its authorized reseller.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Wireless LAN Software The seller warrants to Customer that each software program licensed from it , except as noted below, will perform in substantial conformance to its program specifications, for a period of 1 year from the date of purchase from the seller or its authorized reseller. The seller warrants the media containing software against failure during the warranty period. No updates are provided.
Appendix B Setting Up TCP/IP This section contains instructions for configuring the TCP/IP protocol of the Wireless LAN Card. The IP address policy depends on your wireless network. You should configure your TCP/IP protocol as instructed by your network administrator. For Windows 98/ME 1. Double-click the Network icon on the Control Panel. 2. Click the Configuration tab of the Network dialog box.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual 3. In the network components list, select the TCP/IP protocol of your Wireless LAN Card, e.g., TCP/IP ->Realtek RTL8180 Wireless … and then click Properties. 4. On the IP Address tab, choose one of the methods as required: Option A: Click Specify an IP address. In the IP Address box, enter a valid four-component IP address, either a public or private one as required. In the Subnet Mask box, enter a valid four-component IP address.
Appendix B 5. Setting Up TCP/IP Click OK to return to Network dialog box and click OK again to finish configuration. If your TCP/IP properties have been modified, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Click Yes to have new settings take effect.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual For Windows 2000/XP 54 1. Double-click Network Dial-up Connections (Windows 2000) or Network Connections (Windows XP) on Control Panel, then Network Connections. 2. Right-click the Realtek RTL8180 Wireless … icon and click Properties.
Appendix B 3. Setting Up TCP/IP On the General tab, highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then click Properties. Option A: Use fixed IP address. Enable the Use the following IP Address option. Enter the IP address, Subnet Mask and Default gateway. Then click OK. Option B: Use dynamic IP address Select Obtain an IP address automatically. 4. Close the Local Area Connection Properties window. For Windows 2000, if prompted, click Yes to restart your computer.
Glossary 10BaseT Access Point Ad-Hoc BSS Channel ESS An IEEE standard (802.3) for operating 10 Mbps Ethernet networks (LANs) with twisted pair cabling and a wiring hub. An internetworking device that seamlessly connects wired and wireless networks. Access Points combined with a distributed system support the creation of multiple radio cells that enable roaming throughout a facility. A network composed solely of stations within mutual communication range of each other (no Access Point connected).
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual Ethernet The most widely used medium access method, which is defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard. Ethernet is normally a shared media LAN; i.e., all the devices on the network segment share total bandwidth. Ethernet networks operate at 10Mbps using CSMA/CD to run over 10BaseT cables. Gateway A network component that acts as an entrance to another network. IEEE 802.11 Infrastructure IP IP Address 58 The IEEE 802.
Glossary LAN Local Area Network. A communications network that serves users within a defined geographical area. The benefits include the sharing of Internet access, files, and equipment, such as printers and storage devices. Special network cabling (10BaseT) is often used to connect the PCs together. Radio Frequency RF, Terms: GHz, MHz, Hz —The international unit for measuring frequency is Hertz (Hz), equivalent to the older unit of cycles per second. One megahertz (MHz) is one Million-Hertz.
11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual WEP 60 Wired Equivalent Privacy. The optional cryptographic confidentiality algorithm specified by 802.11. The algorithm is being used to provide data confidentiality that is subjectively equivalent to the confidentiality of a wired LAN medium that does not employ cryptographic techniques to enhance privacy..
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 the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
This device is intended only for OEM integrators under the following conditions: 1) The antenna must be installed such that 20 cm is maintained between the antenna and users, and 2) The transmitter module may not be co-located with any other transmitter or antenna. As long as 2 conditions above are met, further transmitter test will not be required.
