ZoomAir™ USB Client Installation Guide & Reference Manual
NOTICE This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright, and this Manual and all the accompanying hardware, software, and documentation are copyrighted. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be photocopied or reproduced by mechanical, electronic, or other means in any form.
Contents 1 INSTALLING YOUR ZOOMAIR USB CLIENT ............................ 5 PACKAGE CONTENTS ................................................................ 5 INSTALLING THE USB SOFTWARE ............................................... 6 CONNECTING THE USB CLIENT TO YOUR COMPUTER ....................... 8 2 USING YOUR ZOOMAIR USB CLIENT .................................. 11 SETTING THE WINDOWS NETWORK PROPERTIES............................11 USING YOUR CLIENT WITH OTHER ZOOMAIR PRODUCTS .................
1 Installing Your ZoomAir USB Client This chapter explains how to install your USB Client, including • Installing the USB software • Connecting the USB Client to a computer. Note: Your USB Client works with Windows 98, 2000, Me, and XP. Package Contents Your USB Client package contains the following components: • ZoomAir USB Client device • Documentation • CD containing drivers, software, and electronic documentation • USB cable • Laptop mounting clip.
Installing the USB Software 1 Insert the ZoomAir CD in your computer’s CD-ROM drive. The CD starts automatically and the Main Menu opens: Click Installation Wizard. Note: If the CD does not start automatically, from the desktop, go to Start | Run and then type d:\setup.exe, where d is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. 2 6 When the following menu appears, click USB.
3 4 The Zoom PC Resource Checker checks your computer to verify that it has appropriate resources to support your USB Client. You will see a screen similar to the one below. • If your computer has the recommended resources, click Continue to proceed. • If your computer does not have the recommended resources, click Details and follow the instructions to rectify the problem. Follow the prompts.
The next stage is to connect the USB hardware to your computer. Connecting the USB Client to Your Computer 1 Plug one end of the supplied USB cable into a free USB port on your computer or laptop and plug the other end into the USB Client. 2 Restart your computer. 3 Windows XP Users Only: You will see the following dialog box. Make sure the option “Install the software automatically” is selected. Then click Next.
4 When you see a dialog box similar to the one below, click Finish. If you are prompted to restart your computer again, do so. Otherwise, your USB installation is complete. Windows 2000 and XP Users: You may also see a dialog box stating Digital Signature Not Found. You can safely click Yes and the installation will complete successfully. CAUTION: Multiple USB-compatible devices can share one USB port through the use of a hub or splitter cables.
2 Using Your ZoomAir USB Client This chapter provides information about using your USB Client, including the following: • Setting the Windows Network properties, if necessary • Using your USB Client with other ZoomAir products • Viewing other computers • Usage and maintenance tips • Finding more information. Setting the Windows Network Properties If this is the first time that network support is installed onto your computer, the Network dialog box (shown below) will automatically open.
The Windows operating system will prompt you to enter a Computer and Workgroup name. These names will be used to identify your computer in the Microsoft Network Neighborhood. 1 2 3 In the Computer name field, enter a unique name for your computer. In the Workgroup field, enter the name of your network. (Optional) In the Computer Description field, provide a description of the computer.
A dialog box similar to the following displays. By default, all ZoomAir products have WEP disabled. WEP, or Wireless Equivalent Privacy, is a form of data encryption intended to prevent unauthorized wireless clients from accessing data transmitted over the network. If you decide you want to enable WEP, turn to page 24 for instructions. The default Network Type is Infrastructure—this mode uses an Access Point or Gateway to access a company network or the Internet.
Viewing Other Computers When multiple computers equipped with ZoomAir products are running on your wireless network, you can use the following procedure to view them. 1 2 3 4 Start Windows Explorer. Scroll to and double-click Network Neighborhood to display all stations in your Microsoft Networking Group. (The Network Neighborhood icon may be on your desktop.) To display other workgroups in the network environment, double-click the Entire Network icon.
3 In the Network Settings window, click the Identification tab to verify or change the Station Name or Workgroup. Note: Except for Windows 2000 and XP, you must restart your computer for Network Settings changes to take effect. Usage and Maintenance Tips The built-in radio and antennas in your ZoomAir USB Client perform best in an open environment where there are as few obstacles as possible. To achieve the maximum range for wireless communications, do not cover the USB unit with any objects.
3 Upgrading or Removing Your USB Client You may want to upgrade or remove your ZoomAir USB Client in one of the following situations: • New USB Client features have become available • You have installed a newer version of the WLAN Utility • You have been alerted to a driver/firmware mismatch • You no longer need the wireless connectivity of your ZoomAir USB Client.
4 5 6 In the top section of the Device Manager tab, select the option View devices by type. Then, in the list of PC Devices, double-click Network Adapters. Select the item ZoomAir USB Client and click the Properties button. In the ZoomAir USB Client Properties window, select the Driver tab. To display information about the currently installed driver, click the Driver File Details button.
1 Be sure to quit the WLAN Configuration Utility before attempting to remove your USB Client: Right-click the taskbar icon and select Exit. Otherwise, you will receive an error message. From the desktop, go to Start | Programs | ZoomAir and select Uninstall USB Client. Click Next when prompted to do so. 2 When the following dialog box displays, click Finish. Do not shut down your computer yet.
3 4 5 6 If you are prompted to remove any additional software, click Yes. You may see a dialog box similar to the one below. If so, check the box “Don’t display this message again” and click Yes. Be sure to remove any CD remaining in the computer and click Finish. Shut down your computer and unplug the USB Client from the computer. IMPORTANT: Be sure to unplug the USB Client from the computer before restarting your computer.
4 Advanced Features This chapter describes some of your USB Client’s advanced capabilities. These include the following: • How to make configuration changes • How to set up WEP • How to monitor the status of your USB Client connection • How to perform diagnostics WINDOWS XP USERS, TAKE NOTE: Windows XP includes an Automatic Wireless Network Configuration feature, so you do not need to use the ZoomAir WLAN Utility. If you prefer to use our WLAN utility instead, you must first disable the XP feature. 1.
When you open the WLAN Utility dialog box, you’ll see five tabs: • Configuration • Loop Back • AP Browser • Site Survey • About. These tabbed boxes allow you to make configuration changes and perform user-level diagnostics. Descriptions of these tabbed boxes follow. Configuration The Configuration dialog box allows you to modify configuration parameters such as Profile, Network Type, Transmit Rate, ESS ID, WEP, RTS/CTS, Fragment Threshold, and Power Save.
Network—The Network Type dropdown list tells you what type of network the USB client is connected to: Infrastructure or AdHoc. (For additional explanation of these network types, turn to page 33.) • The default is Infrastructure—this mode uses an Access Point or Gateway to access a company network or the Internet. Note: If there are two Access Points with the same ESS ID, check the BSS ID box and enter the MAC address of the Access Point you want to connect to.
no longer want to use a profile, you can remove it by clicking the Delete button. Tip: You can also select a profile by right-clicking the WLAN icon in the system tray. Transmit Rate—The USB Client provides several data rate options, including Fully Auto, 2 Mb, Auto 1 or 2 Mb, 5.5 Mb, and 11 Mb. For most networks, the factory default Fully Auto will prove the most efficient. This setting allows the USB Client to adjust and operate at the maximum possible data rate.
• Pull down the Encryption (WEP) menu and select either 64 bit or 128 bit. • Specify the encryption keys. There are two methods to set the WEP keys, as described below: To Create Encryption Keys Using a Passphrase: Follow these steps. 1 2 3 Click the Create Key with Passphrase check box and type a character string of your choice in the Passphrase field. As you type, the utility uses an algorithm to generate one key (in the case of 128-bit) or four keys (in the case of 64-bit) automatically.
1 2 Click the Create Key with Manual check box. You have a choice of selecting an Alphanumeric or a Hexadecimal scheme. • Alphanumeric: 13 case-sensitive characters ranging from “a-z”, “A-Z”, and “0-9” (for ex., MyKey12345678) • Hexadecimal: 26 hexadecimal digits in the range of “AF”, “a-f”, and “0-9” (for ex., 00112233445566778899AABBCC). 3 Navigate back to the Configuration tab and click the Apply button and OK to have the setting take effect.
Power Management—The Power Save option is designed to conserve your computer’s battery life. If you click the Power Save, your wireless LAN Card will go into sleep mode, minimizing power consumption. Note: If you enable power saving, the Access Points you use need to support power saving as well—otherwise communication cannot be established. RTS Threshold—RTS Threshold is intended to prevent the problem of “Hidden Nodes.
Note: There is an implicit tradeoff when enabling RTS Threshold. It could cause redundant network overhead that could negatively affect throughput, instead of providing a remedy. Be sure to also specify the packet size. The RTS mechanism will be activated if the data size exceeds the value you set. Frag. Threshold—Enabling Fragmentation Threshold improves efficiency when high traffic is flowing along the wireless network. If your USB Client often transmits large files and you enable Frag.
Throughput—Shows the short term transmit and receive throughput in bytes/second, and is continuously updated. Link Quality—Based on the quality of the received signal of the Access Point beacon. There are four states of link quality: 100%-80% Excellent 80%-60% Good 60%-30% Fair Under 30% Poor or no connection Signal Strength—Based on the received signal strength measurement of the baseband processor of the Beacon signal.
AP Browser If you click the Rescan button, the AP Browser displays all Access Points in the vicinity. Besides listing the ESS ID of each Access Point, the AP Browser box displays BSS ID, Channel, Signal, Quality and Supported Rates. It also indicates if WEP is enabled. To join any of the displayed Access Points, highlight the Access Point you desire to connect with and click the Join ESS button to join the group. Note: Click Join BSS when there are more than two Access Points with the same ESS ID.
Site Survey By displaying the Site Survey dialog box, you can review the channel quality of all 14 radio channels. A blue bar indicates that channel quality is clear and good—the higher the blue bar, the better the quality (i.e., less interference). A yellow bar indicates that the channel quality is fair. A red bar indicates that a channel is busy or experiencing severe interference.
About The About box shows the current versions of the Wireless LAN Utility, driver, and firmware. It also displays the NIC card’s MAC address and frequency domain.
Appendix A Wireless Networking Overview You can use the ZoomAir USB Client in two types of networks, AdHoc (also called Peer-to-Peer) or Infrastructure. This Appendix explains the basic difference between the two. AdHoc vs. Infrastructure A network is a group of individual computers called “clients” connected together so that they can share information, an Internet connection, printers, and other resources. A network can be wired, wireless, or a combination of the two.
More complicated wireless networks, typically called “infrastructure networks,” usually have an “Access Point” or “Gateway” to manage the connections between computers in the wireless network and other elements of the network. In an infrastructure network, a wireless Gateway or Access Point increases the range of the network and connects the wireless network to a wired network.
Appendix B Troubleshooting Referring to this Appendix may help you troubleshoot your ZoomAir product and avoid a call to Technical Support. Two other good sources of help are the FAQs on the ZoomAir CD and the ZoomAir section our web site www.zoom.com. www.zoom.com Difficulty using or installing your ZoomAir USB Client may be due to several causes: • The Client may be out-of-range, which prevents it from establishing a wireless connection with the network.
If You Cannot Connect to the Network If your USB Client seems to be working fine, but you are unable to connect to the network, it may be due to a configuration mismatch. It is likely there is a configuration mismatch pertaining to either the Network Name (this value is case-sensitive) or the WEP key. Other causes may be attributed to the following: • No USB driver is loaded. • Station is not authorized to access the network. • USB Client has a defect.
Appendix C Regulatory Information U.S. FCC 47 CFR Part 15 Emissions 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 Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
European Union Member States: Intended Use The intended use for this RLAN equipment is operation in the 2.4GHz frequency band. Member states in the EU with restrictive use for this device are grayed out in the table below. AUSTRIA BELGIUM DENMARK FINLAND FRANCE ITALY SPAIN GERMANY LUXEMBOURG SWEDEN GREECE NETHERLANDS UK IRELAND PORTUGAL This device is also authorized for use in the EFTA member states of Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. 0560 Important Notice This device is a 2.
Department of Commerce End User Statement This item falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, and as such, the requirement set forth in section 740-17 of the Export Administration Regulation must be complied with. See the following Web sites for more information: Bureau of Export Administration http://www.bxa.doc.gov/DPL/Default.shtm http://www.bxa.doc.gov/Entities/ Code of Federal Regulations http://w3.access.gpo.gov/bxa/ear/ear_data.
Important Information Table We recommend that you take a few moments to fill in the following information for future reference. In the event you need to call Technical Support, you will need the information below.
