User’s Guide 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card Version 1.
INFORMATION TO USER Federal Communications Commission 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.
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction.............................................................................................3 The 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card...................................................................3 Features..............................................................................................................3 Package Contents...............................................................................................4 System Requirements........................
Chapter 1: Introduction The 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card The 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card now has a new , higher-powered antenna that provides a greater range than ever. The increased sensitivity helps filter out interference and notice to keep your signal clear. Improved error correction in the chipset keeps you operating at higher transmission rates for longer distances. And since you only need one Type II or III PCMCIA slot, you’re free to use your other slots for additional accessories.
Package Contents One 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card. One setup Utility CD-ROM (User Guide on CD). Quick Installation Guide. System Requirements One PCMCIA Type II or Type III slot. PCMCIA revision 2.10 compliant card and socket services. Operating System: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP. 2M bytes free disk space for utility and driver installation.
Chapter 2: Network Configuration and Planning Wireless LAN Basic The WLANs supports legacy Ethernet LAN network configuration options as defined by the IEEE 802.11b standards committee. The WLAN Card can be configured as: Ad-Hoc for departmental or SOHO LANs. Infrastructure for enterprise LANs. LAN-Interconnection for point-to-point link as campus backbone.
Desktop PC Server Access Point 1 Notebook with PCMCIA WLAN Card Access Point 2 Desktop with USB WLAN Adapter Fig 2-2 Infrastructure Wireless LAN The adapter provides access to a wired LAN for wireless workstations. An integrated wireless and wired LAN is called an infrastructure configuration. A group of WLAN PC users and an Access Point compose a Basic Service Set (BSS). Each WLAN PC in a BSS can talk to any computer in the wired LAN infrastructure via the Access Point.
Roaming Desktop PC Server Access Point 1 Notebook I USB WLAN Adapter Access Point 2 Notebook I BSS1 USB WLAN Adapter ESS BSS2 Fig 2-4 Roaming in an Extended Service Set (ESS) Infrastructure mode also supports roaming capabilities for mobile users. More than one BSS can be configured as an Extended Service Set (ESS). The continuous network allows users to roam freely within an ESS. All WLAN PCs and Access Point within one ESS must be configured with the same ESS ID.
Chapter 3: Installing the Drivers and Configuration Utility for Windows 9X, ME, 2000 Running the Auto Driver & Utility Installation Before installing your card, insert the Auto-Install CD into your CD-ROM driver. Unless you have deactivated the auto-run feature of Windows, the screen shown in Fig 3-1 should appear automatically. If this screen doesn’t appear automatically, you can access the installation by clicking the Start button and choosing Run. In the drop-down box provided type D:\Setup.
Fig 3-3 Components Version Fig 3-2 Install WLAN Driver / Utility 3. The installation provides you to install package Custom or Typical. (Fig 3-4) 4. If “Custom” be chosen, you can select package individually. If you choose “Typical”, The 3 packages will be installed in your system. (Fig 3-5) The 3 packages mean Application, PCMCIA card driver, and USB adapter driver. (Fig 3-6).
5. You can specify a folder name of this program. (Fig 3-7) 6. After copying files, you will finish the installation. (Fig 3-8) Fig 3-8 Finish Fig 3-7 Select Program Folder Inserting the adapter To insert the wireless LAN Card into a notebook computer, do the following: 1. Locate an available Type II or Type III PCMCIA slot. 2. With the PCMCIA adapter’s 68-pin connector facing the PCMCIA slot and the “Brand Name of PCMCIA” label facing up side the PCMCIA adapter completely into the PCMCIA slot.
After installing PCMCIA WLAN Card driver and utility. Please insert the WLAN Card. You will see Found New Hardware. Please select “Install the software automatically” then click “Next>” (Fig 3-10). The screen in Windows XP (Fig 3-11) will appear click “Continue Anyway”. The Windows has finished installing software for the device. Click “Finish” to finish the installation.(Fig 312).
Chapter 4: Configuration Utility The Configuration Utility is provided to allow you further customization of the WLAN PC Card and your wireless network. Using the Configuration Utility After the Configuration Utility has been installed, an icon will placed in the system tray (next to click button of your screen) when the WLAN PC Card is inserted, as shown in Fig 4-1. Fig 4-1 The utility is divided into six parts: Status, Statistics, Site Survey, Encryption, Advanced, and Info.
Fig 4-2 3 NOTE: When in Ad-Hoc mode, Signal Strength and Link Quality indicators will not be available. The Signal Strength field will display a bar indicating the percentage, between 0 and 100 percent, of the strength of the signal. The higher the percentage, the stronger the signal. The Link Quality field will display a bar indicating the percentage, between 0 and 100 percent, of the quality of the link. The higher the percentage, the better the link.
An acronym for Service Set Identifier, SSID is the unique name shared among all points in a wireless network. The SSID must be identical for all points in the network. It is case sensitive and must not exceed 32 characters. The Tx Rate field shows the current transfer rate for the Network PC Card. To optimize performance and range, the Tx Rate should be set to Auto, which will automatically adjust the transfer speed for best performance and longest range.
Encryption On the Encryption screen, show in Fig 4-5, you can set the level of security with which you will be using the WLAN PC Card. Under the drop-down box, you can choose to have WEP encryption Disabled, 64-Bit, or 128Bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is an encryption scheme use to protect wireless data communication. If you decide to use encryption, you can choose any of the available WEP keys (1 to 4). You also have option to select the WEP mode (Mandatory/optional).
For Authentication Type, you may choose between Open System or Shared Key. Shared Key is when both the sender and recipient share a secret key. Both units this key for an extended length of time, sometimes indefinitely. Any eavesdropper that discovers the key may decipher all packets unit the key is changed. Open System the default setting, is when the sender and the recipient do not share a secret key.
The RTS Threshold Value should remain at its default setting of 2,347. A preamble is a signal used to synchronize the transmission timing between two or more systems. A series of transmission pulses is sent before the data to indicate that “someone is about transmit data.” this ensures that systems receive the information correctly when the data transmission starts.
Fig 4-8 How to Uninstall the Configuration & Monitor Utility In order to uninstall the Configuration & Monitor Utility from Windows 9X/ME/2000/XP, you can RUN Setup utility again then you will see Fig 4-9 then step by step remove all installed components. It is recommended to stop the WLAN adapter and “Exit” the application prior to staring the uninstallation procedure.
Chapter 5: Installation Procedure Under Windows NT 4.0 Use the procedures described in this section to install and configure the WLAN adapter under MS Windows NT 4.0. About Windows NT 4.0 Although Windows NT 4.0 are similar in appearance wit Windows 95/98/ME, and Windows 2000, they have different philosophy when installing a new hardware. Throughout this section it is assumed that you have basic working knowledge of Windows NT 4.0 and how to install new network cards on them.
3. In the “Network” settings window you will be prompted to install Windows NT Networking in case no network has been installed yet. Click “Yes” and follow the instruction on the screen. If networking had been already installed, you will see a dialog with several tabs. In the “Adapters” tab click the “Add” button. Windows NT Networking Setup will determine the type of network adapter card that you are going to use. (Fig 5-1). Fig 5-2 Fig 5-1 4.
6. During the installation, a dialog box appears asking for the I/O base and IRQ resource information. In order to find out which values to use, go to Start XProgramsXAdministrative Tools XWindows NT DiagnosticsXselect the “Resources” tab Xpress the “IRQ” button. Select one free IRQ from the list. Next, press the button “I/O Port” and choose an 0x20 free I/O space. Add these values into the dialog box.
Configuration / Uninstall In order to configure the card, please use the Configuration and Monitor Utility described in a different section of this document. This application lies on the system tray of your machine, as long as the card is inserted into your system, and permits you to change the parameters of the card “on the fly”. To uninstall the WLAN adapter from Windows NT 4.0. you must double click on the “Network” option in the “Control Panel” (Start XSettingsXControl Panel).
Chapter 6: Installation Procedure Under Windows XP Use the procedures described in this section to install and configure the WLAN adapter under MS Windows XP About Windows XP Throughout this section it is assumed that you have a basic working knowledge of WinXP. However, in this paragraph, some specific feature of WinXP are briefly explained. WinXP operating system supports the “Plug & Play” feature.
Fig 6-2 Fig 6-3 Fig 6-4 In order to configure the card, please use the WinXP build-in Application. Uninstall Procedure Under WinXP In order to uninstall the WLAN adapter from WinXP, you must right click on the “Properties” option under “My computer” icon. Then, under the “Hardware” tab, select the “Device Manager” and expand the “Network Adapters”. After you right click on the “WLAN 11 Mbps PCMCIA ADAPTER-E” option, press “Uninstall”. Finally, on the “Confirm Device Removal” window, select “OK”.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Adapter Installation Problems If your computer can not find the WLAN PC card or the network driver doesn’t install correctly, check the following: Make sure the adapter is securely seated in the PCMCIA slot. When you insert the wireless adapter into the notebook’s slot, a beep should be heard if the adapter is properly inserted. Check for any hardware problems, such as physical damage to the card’s connector. Try the card in another PCMCIA slot.
Appendix B: Glossary Access Point- An internetworking device that seamlessly connects wired and wireless networks together. Ad-Hoc- An Ad-Hoc wireless LAN is a group of computers each with wireless adapters, connected as an independent wireless LAN. Backbone- The part of a network that connects most of the systems and networks together and handles the most data. The core infrastructure of a network, the portion of the network that transports information from one central location to another central location.
Fragmentation- Breaking a packet into smaller units when transmitting over a network medium that cannot support the original size of the packet. Infrastructure- An integrated wireless and wired LAN is called an infrastructure configuration. IRQ- Interrupt ReQuest, A hardware interrupt on a PC. There are 16 IRQ lines used to signal the CPU that peripheral event has started or terminated. In most cases, two devices cannot use the same line.
Appendix C: Specifications Radio: Complies with IEEE 802.11b Frequency Band: 2400 ~ 2483.5MHz ( for US, Canada, and ETSI) 2400 ~ 2497MHz (for Japan) Modulation TYPE: CCK,BPSK,QPSK Operating Channels: IEEE 802.11b compliant 11 channels (US, Canada) 13 channels (ETSI) 14 channels (Japan) Radio Technology: Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Data Rate: 1 / 2 / 5.5 / 11 Mbps Output Power: > +15dBm, 10mW/MHz for Japan Receive sensitivity: Min. -80dBm for 11Mbps (@BER 10E-5)Min. -84dBm for 5.
PCMCIA-03-05-010
