Wireless LAN Card User Guide Before operating the unit, please read this manual and retain it for future Wireless LAN Card Long Range Wireless LAN Card The user guide is fit for both Wireless LAN Card and Long Range Wireless LAN Card Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Package Contents 1.2 PC Card Description 1.3 System Requirements 1.4 Features and Benefits 1.5 Applications 1.6 Network Configurations 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 2. Installing Driver and Utility 2.1 Installation for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP 2.2 Checking after Installation 2.3 Wireless LAN Client Utility 2.4 Uninstalling Driver and Utility 8 8 15 17 30 3. Connecting to a Network 3.1 Checking and Adding Client for Microsoft Networks 3.2 Checking and Adding NetBEUI 3.3 Checking and Adding TCP/IP 31 31 32 33 3.4 Checking and Adding File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks 34 3.5 Checking and Adding Computer Name and Workgroup Name 34 4. Troubleshooting Appendix A Product Specifications 35 37 40 Appendix B Regulatory Compliance Information 2 Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter describes the package contents, PC Card description, system requirements, features & benefits, applications and network configurations of our wireless LAN products. 1-1 Package Contents The PC Card package contains the following items as shown in Figure 1-1 1. One PC Card 2. One Installation CD 3. One Quick Installation Guide Wireless LAN PC Card Installation CD IE E E 8 02 .11b Wirel ess LAN PC Card Quick I nstallation Guid e Figure 1-1 1- 2 PC Card Descriptions The PC Card is a standard PC Card that fits into any PCMCIA Card Type II slot. The PC Card has a LED indicator and an integrated built-in diversity antenna as shown in Figure 1-2. 1 Figure 1-2 1. Integrated, with built-in diversity Antenna 2. Link LED Peer-to-Peer ­ Blinking, no matter the wireless is connected or not Access Point ­ Solid GREEN when the wireless is connected Off ­ No wireless activity 2 1 1- 3 System Requirements Installation of the PC Card requires: 1. PC/AT compatible computer with PCMCIA Type II slot. 2. Windows 98//ME/2000/XP operating system environment. 3. Minimum 1.3M bytes free disk space for installing the PC Card driver and utility program. 1- 4 Features and Benefits 11Mbps data transfer rate High transmit output power (Long Range PC Card Only) IEEE 802.11b compliant High-speed data transmission Long operating range, up to three times range of standard products Fully interoperable with IEEE 802.11b compliant products Automatic data rate scaling at 11, 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps Improved 64/128-bit WEP Engine Wide coverage range up to 600/1200(Long Range PC Card only) meters in open space Advanced Power Management Plug and Play PC Card interface Significantly improved indoor multipath distortion Optimized throughput, range And connectivity Significantly improved throughput Wireless connectivity for all your computers Extended battery life Easy installation Higher link quality in indoor environment 1- 5 Applications The wireless LAN products are easy to install and highly efficient. The following list describes some of the many applications made possible through the power and flexibility of wireless LANs: 1. Difficult-to-wire environments There are many situations where wires cannot or not easily be laid. Historic 2 buildings, older buildings, open areas and across busy streets make the installation of LANs either impossible or very expensive. 2. Temporary workgroups Consider situations in parks, athletic arenas, exhibitions, disaster-recovery, temporary office and construction sites where one wants a temporary WLAN established and removed. 3. The ability to access real-time information Doctors/nurses, point-of-sale employees, and warehouse workers can access real-time information while dealing with patients, serving customers and processing information. 4. Frequently changed environments Show rooms, meeting rooms, retail stores, and manufacturing sites where frequently rearrange the workplace. 5. Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) networks SOHO users need a cost-effective, easy and quick installation of a small network. 6. Wireless extensions to Ethernet networks Network managers in dynamic environments can minimize the overhead caused by moves, extensions to networks, and other changes with wireless LANs. 7. Wired LAN backup Network managers implement wireless LANs to provide backup for mission-critical applications running on wired networks. 8. Training/Educational Facilities Training sites at corporations and students at universities use wireless connectivity to ease access to information, information exchanges, and learning. 1- 6 Network Configurations To better understand how the wireless LAN products work together to create a wireless network, it might be helpful to depict a few of the possible wireless LAN PC card network configurations. The wireless LAN products can be configured as: 1. Ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) for departmental or SOHO LANs. 2. Infrastructure for enterprise LANs. 3. IP Sharing for 56K/ISDN TA/Cable/DSL Modem ­ Connect Internet and your SOHO network. 3 Ad-Hoc(peer-to-peer) Mode This is the simplest network configuration that several computers equipped with the PC Cards that form a wireless network whenever they are within range of one another (Figure 1-3). In ad-hoc mode, each client, is peer-to-peer, would only have access to the resources of the other client and requires no the access point. This is the easiest and least expensive way for the SOHO to set up a wireless network. Figure 1-3 A wireless Ad-hoc network Infrastructure Mode The infrastructure mode requires the use of an access point (AP). In this mode, all wireless communications between two computers have to be via the AP no matter the AP is wired to Ethernet network or stand-alone. If used in stand-alone, the AP can extend the range of independent wireless LANs by acting a repeater, which effectively doubling the distance between wireless stations as shown in Figure 1-4. 4 Figure 1-4 Infrastructure Mode Extended-range independent WLAN using AP as repeater If wired to an Ethernet network as shown in Figure 1-5, the AP serves as a bridge and provides the link between the server and the wireless clients. The wireless clients can move freely throughout the coverage area of the AP while remaining connected to the server. Since the AP is connected to the wired network, each client would have access to server resources as well as to other clients. Figure 1-5 Single AP bridge 5 Access points have a finite range, on the order of 50 meters indoor and 100 meters outdoors. In a very large facility such as an enterprise, a warehouse, or on a college campus, it will probably be necessary to install more than one access point to cover an entire building or campus, as shown in Figure 1-6. In this scenario, access points hand the client off from one to another in a way that is invisible to the client, ensuring the connectivity. Wireless clients can roam seamlessly between different coverage areas and remain connected to the network. Figure 1-6 Multiple-AP and roaming Wireless Router and IP Sharing In infrastructure mode, in addition to acting as a bridge between an Ethernet and wireless network, the AP can be configured as a wireless router and IP sharing device for Internet access as shown in Figure 1-7. You don't have to buy an expensive router. Nor you have to buy several modems and setup phone lines. Just share one AP, one Modem, single dial-up account, and one phone line, dozens of network users can go surfing the Internet concurrently. 6 Figure 1-7 Wireless router and IP Sharing 7 Chapter 2 Installing Drivers&Client Utility This chapter describes how to install the PC Card drivers and client utility under Windows 98/ME/2000/XP. 2- 1 Installation for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP During the installation, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP may need to copy Windows systems files from the Windows 98/ME/2000/XP installation diskette or CD-ROM. Therefore you will need a copy of the Windows 98/ME/2000/XP installation diskette or CD-ROM at hand before installing the driver. On many systems, instead of a CD, the necessary installation files are archived on the hard disk in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS directory. Installation Procedure: Before installing this new driver in your computer, you need to remove all of the Wireless LAN PC Card's drivers that you had installed in your computer (Please refer to page 9). Please follow the installation procedures below. Install Wireless PC Card Driver 1. Turn on the computer. 2. Be sure that there is no Wireless LAN PC Card has been inserted yet. 3. Insert the Wireless LAN Installation CD into your CD-ROM drive. 4. The setup program "wlan_ForWindows304.1.exe" should pop out automatically. If it does not start, you can run it manually by selecting RUN from the Start menu and running "wlan_ForWindows304.1.exe" from CD-ROM drive. 5. Follow the instruction and finish the installation. 6. Insert the PC Card into the PCMCIA slot of your computer. 7. The Wireless LAN PC Card will be found and driver will be installed without restart the computer as shown in Figure 2-1-1. 8 Figure 2-1-1 8. Make sure that the network protocol parameters are set correctly for your computer. These include the IP address, Subnet mask, Gateway and DNS. If you are unfamiliar with how to set network protocol parameters, refer to Chapter 3 Connection to Network for details. 9 Install Wireless PC Card Driver 1. Turn on the computer. 2. Right-click on My Computer icon on the Windows desktop to chose Properties and then System Properties window will pop out. 3. Click on the tab Device Manager and then move the mouse to Network Adapters node to expend the tree list by clicking on the plus sign. 4. Remove Wireless LAN PC Card that you have installed already. 5. Uninstall the old driver. 6. You must remove the old existing driver before installing the new driver. 7. Click Start icon on the tool bar and select Control Panel from Setting item. 8. Double click the Add/Remove Programs icon to open up Add/Remove Programs window then choose the tab Install/Uninstall, pick up the utility that you have install for Wireless LAN PC Card and press the button Add/Remove. 9. The dialog box will show up to confirm if you want to remove the driver and all of its components. Please click on OK button to complete the uninstallation procedures of the old driver. 10. Restart the computer and remove the Wireless LAN PC Card. 11. Follow the Install Wireless PC Card Driver to complete the installation procedures. 12. If the computer still use the old driver, please follow the step below: a. Right click the My Computer icon on the desktop and choose Properties. b. In the Device Manager window as shown in Figure 2-1-2, right click the Wireless LAN PC Card from the Network Adapter's tree list and choose the Properties. 10 c. Figure 2-1-2 Click Update Driver button from the Driver tab as shown in Figure 2-1-3. Figure 2-1-3 11 d. Click next of the Welcome to Upgrade the Device Driver Wizard dialog box. The Install Hardware Device Driver dialog window will be showed up as shown in Figure 2-1-4. Figure 2-1-4 e. Choose Display a list of the known drivers for this device so that I can choose the specific driver and click Next as shown in Figure 2-1-5. Figure 2-1-5 12 f. In the Network Type dialog window, choose Network adapters and then click Next as shown in Figure 2-1-6. Figure 2-1-6 g. Select the network adapter for 802.11b Wireless LAN PC Card and then click Next. The Start Device Driver Installation dialog window will show up, click Next to enter the Digital Signature Notice window as shown in Figure 2-1-7. Figure 2-1-7 13 h. Click Yes to continue the installation procedure as shown in Figure 2-1-8. Figure 2-1-8 i. Click Finish to complete the installation procedure as shown in Figure 2-1-9. Figure 2-1-9 14 2- 2 Checking after Installation After installing the driver and utility, follow the steps below to check that the PC Card is operating correctly. 1. Click the Start button, select Settings, and then click Control Panel. 2. In the Control Panel window, double-click the System icon, and then select the Device Manager tab. 3. Double-click Network adapters, then select Wireless LAN PC CARD as shown in Figure 2-2-1. Figure 2-2-1 4. Click the Properties button, and then check the message. This device is working properly is displayed for Device status as shown in Figure 2-2-2. 15 Figure 2-2-2 5. If you find the Yellow (?) sign on the adapter or the above message is not displayed, it shows the installation is not successful or the wireless LAN PC Card is not operating properly. Uninstall and re-install the driver, referring to Chapter 2-6 Uninstalling Driver and Utility. 16 2- 3 Wireless LAN Client Utility Wireless LAN Client Utility is used to display or change the PC Card information about link, configuration, encryption, and utility/driver/firmware version inf ...