Edimax Technology Co 9577170716 Wireless-N USB Adapter User Manual
Edimax Technology Co Ltd Wireless-N USB Adapter Users Manual
Users Manual
802.11b/g/n
Wireless LAN USB Adapter
User Manual
Version: 1.0
(July, 2007)
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright ©2005/2006 by this company. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval
system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of this company
This company makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or
implied, with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any
warranties, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Any software
described in this manual is sold or licensed "as is". Should the programs prove
defective following their purchase, the buyer (and not this company, its
distributor, or its dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing,
repair, and any incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect
in the software. Further, this company reserves the right to revise this
publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents thereof
without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes.
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C A T A L O G
CHAPTER I: PRODUCT INFORMATION
1-1 Introduction and safety information
1-2 Safety Information
1-3 System Requirements
1-4 Package Contents
1-5 Familiar with Your New Wireless Network Card
CHAPTER II: DRIVER INSTALLATION AND
CONFIGURATION
2-1 Network Card and Driver Installation
2-2 Connect to Wireless Access Point
2-2-1 Using Ralink Utility
2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration
2-3 Connection Profile Management and 802.1x Settings
2-3-1 Make a Profile for an Access Point or Wireless Device
2-3-2 Using 802.1x - Certification
2-3-3 Using 802.1x - CA Server
2-4 View Network Statistics and Link Status
2-4-1 Network Statistics
2-4-2 Link Status
2-5 Advanced Settings
2-6 QoS Setting
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2-7 WPS Configuration
2-8 About
CHAPTER III: APPENDIX
3-1 Hardware Specification
3-2 Troubleshooting
3-3 Glossary
3-4 FCC and Other Compliance Statements
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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. This
wireless network card also supports MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out)
technology, which uses two different radio channels to enhance data
transfer rate and wireless coverage.
With easy-to-install USB 2.0 interface - a very common expansion port of
computers - plug this wireless network card into any empty USB port of
your computer, just that simple!
Other features of this router including:
High-efficiency antenna, expands the scope of your wireless
network.
QoS function: control the bandwidth required for different
applications.
802.11b/g/Draft-N compatible.
Supports major encryption methods like WEP, WPA, and WPA2
encryption.
USB 2.0 interface - you can get it installed on your computer in
just few seconds!
Wireless access control - prevent unauthorized network access to
your network and computer.
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1-2 Safety Information
In order to keep the safety of users and your properties, please follow the
following safety instructions:
1. This USB wireless network card is designed for indoor use only. DO
NOT expose this network card to direct sun light, rain, or 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. This network card is small enough to put in a child’s mouth, and it
could cause serious injury or could be fatal. If they throw the network
card, the card will be damaged. PLEASE KEEP THIS NETWORK
CARD OUT THE REACH OF CHILDREN!
4. This network card will become hot when being used for long time
(This is normal and is not a malfunction). DO NOT put the network
card on a paper, cloth, or other flammable objects after the network card
has been used for a long time.
5. There’s no user-serviceable part inside the network card. If you found
that the network card is not working properly, please contact your dealer
of purchase and ask for help. DO NOT disassemble the network card by
your self, warranty will be void.
6. If the network card falls into water, DO NOT USE IT AGAIN
BEFORE YOU SEND THE CARD TO THE DEALER OF PURCHASE
FOR INSPECTION.
7. If you smell something strange or even see some smoke coming out
from the network card, switch the computer off immediately, and call
dealer of purchase for help.
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1-3 System Requirements
An empty USB 2.0 port (May not work on USB 1.1 port, and
performance will be greatly reduced)
Windows 2000, 2003, XP, or Vista operating system
CD-ROM drive
At least 100MB of available disk space
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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:
□ USB wireless network card (1 pcs) ……………………………… 1
□ Quick installation guide (1 pcs) ………………………………… 2
□ User manual CDROM (1 pcs) ………………………………….. 3
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1-5 Familiar with your new wireless network card
1. USB Connector
2. Connector Cap (To protect USB connector when not in use)
3. Link/Activity LED
LED Name Light Status Description
On Linked to a wireless access point /
Transferring data
Link/
Activity
Off No wireless activity
1
2
3
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CHAPTER II: DRIVER INSTALLATION AND
CONFIGURATION
2-1 Network Card Installation
Please follow the following instructions to install your new wireless
network card:
1. Insert the USB wireless network card into an empty USB 2.0 port of
your computer when computer is switched on. Never use force to
insert the card, if you feel it’s stuck, flip the card over and try again.
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2. The following message will appear on your computer, click ‘Cancel’.
3. Insert device driver CDROM 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.
4. You can choose the configuration tool used to configure the wireless
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network card here. It’s recommended to select ‘Ralink Configuration
Tool’, which provides fully access to all function of this wireless
network card. If you prefer to use the wireless configuration tool
provided by Windows XP or Vista, please select ‘Microsoft Zero
Configuration Tool’, then click ‘Next’.
5. There are two wireless performance mode you can select here:
Optimize for WiFi mode or
Optimize for performance mode
If you want to enhance wireless performance, please select ‘Optimize
for performance mode’. However, wireless compatibility is not
guaranteed in this mode. If you want to use this mode, you may not be
able to communicate with older wireless devices and wireless access
point, such as 802.11b devices, but the data transfer rate will be
enhanced in this mode. You can select this mode when you only plan
to communicate with 802.11 Draft-N devices.
If you want to keep compatibility and communicate with older
wireless devices, please select ‘Optimize for WiFi Mode’.
When you select one mode, please click ‘Next>’ to continue. If you
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see ‘Found New Hardware’ message again, please ignore it and
wait.
6. Please wait while the install procedure is running. When you see this
message, please click ‘Finish’ to complete the driver installation
process.
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7. 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.
8. 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’.
HERE!
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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. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right
corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.
2. Configuration utility will scan for all wireless access points
automatically. Scan results will be displayed here, please check if the
wireless access point with the SSID (the name of wireless access point)
you preferred is shown here.
If the wireless access point you wish to connect does not show here,
please click ‘Rescan’ to try again, until the one you preferred is
displayed. You may have to click ‘Rescan’ for more than two times
before you can see the access point you wish to use here sometimes.
If you still can not see the access point you wish to use after clicking
‘Rescan’ for more than five times, please move your computer closer
to the location where the wireless access point is, or see instructions in
chapter 3-2 ‘Troubleshooting’.
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Here are descriptions of every setup item:
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.
Signal: Shows the signal strength of access point or wireless
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device. Larger number means better radio strength,
which often means you’re not too far from that
access point or wireless device.
Channel: Shows the channel number that access point or
wireless device uses.
Encryption: Shows the encryption method that access point or
wireless device uses. If the wireless access point
does not enable encryption, you’ll see ‘None’
displayed here.
Authentication: Shows the authentication mode that access point or
wireless device uses. If the wireless access point
does not require authentication, you’ll see
‘Unknown’ displayed here.
Network Type: Shows the type of wireless connection. If it’s a wireless
access point, ‘Infrastructure’ will be displayed here;
if it’s a computer or network device, ‘AdHoc’ will be
displayed here.
3. Click the wireless access point or network device you wish to connect,
it will be highlighted, then click ‘Connect’.
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 build a direct wireless link with other computer or network
device directly, without the help of wireless access point.
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.
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If the access point you selected does not enable encryption (The
content of ‘Encryption’ field of the access point you selected is ‘None’,
you’ll be connected to this wireless access point within one minute.
Please jump to step 6.
If the access point you selected enables encryption, please proceed to
next step.
4. 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.
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5. 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.
If the access point you selected does not enable encryption and does
not require authentication, please skip this step.
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6. 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!
7. 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.
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2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration
Windows XP and Vista 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.
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3. Click ‘Connect to a network’ under ‘Network Connections’
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
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network list’ to rescan access points. Click the access point you want
to use if it’s shown, then click ‘Connect’.
6. 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.
If the access point you selected does not use encryption, you’ll not be
prompted for security key or passphrase.
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7. If you can see ‘Connected’ message, the connection between your
computer and wireless access point is successfully established.
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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. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right
corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.
2. There are two ways to add a new connection profile:
Create a new profile,
or
Add a profile from an existing wireless access point or wireless device
If you want to click new profile, click ‘Profile’ tab, then click ‘Add’
button:
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Or, you can add a connected wireless access point or wireless device
to a profile by clicking ‘Site Survey’ tab, then click ‘Add to Profile’
button:
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And you can set the parameter for this connection here:
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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.
PSM: Please select CAM (constantly awake mode, keep
(Power Saving the wireless radio activity when not transferring
Mode) data), or PSM (Power saving mode, switches radio
off when not transferring data).
It’s recommended to choose ‘PSM’ if you’re using
this network card with notebook computer to help
the battery live longer.
Network Type Select network type (‘Ad Hoc’ or ‘Infrastructure’). If
you’re adding a profile from an existing access
point or wireless device, it’s automatically selected
and you don’t have to change it.
TX Power You can select the radio output power of wireless
network card. You may not need full radio power if
you’re not far from wireless access point, and only
use a high setting here if you found that radio
reception is bad.
If you don’t know which one to use, select ‘Auto’.
Preamble This option is only available when the network type
is ‘Ad hoc’. You can select ‘Auto’ or ‘Long
Preamble’. Please select ‘Auto’ if you don’t know
what it is.
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RTS Threshold Check the box and you can set RTS threshold
manually here. Do not modify default setting unless
you know what it is.
Fragment Check the box and you can set fragment threshold
Threshold manually here. Do not modify default setting unless
you know what it is.
Now click ‘Authentication and Security’ tab, and set the encryption and
authentication settings.
Here are descriptions of every setup items:
Authentication Select the authentication type of the wireless access
Type 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.
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If you select ‘LEAP’, the following message will be
displayed. Please input LEAP identity, password,
domain name, and select encryption type. You can
check ‘Show Password’ box so the password you
inputted will be displayed as you type, but not
replace by asterisk.
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 Input WPA preshared key here. If encryption is not
Preshared Key enabled, or you select ‘WEP’ as encryption type,
this field will be disabled and grayed out.
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WEP Key You can select key type (Hex or ASCII) and input
WEP key here. If encryption is not enabled, or you
select ‘WPA’ as encryption type, this field will be
disabled and grayed out.
Show Password Check this box and all passphrases or security keys
you inputted will be displayed as you type, but not
replace your input with asterisk.
Use 802.1x Enable 802.1x wireless authentication. Please click
‘802.1x Setting’ button to set 802.1x parameters.
(See next section).
After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save settings and exit. The
profile you just created will be displayed:
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Select the profile you wish to use, and click ‘Activate’ to use the profile
you selected. You can only activate a profile a time, and the profile which
is activated currently will have a green check ( ) before its name. If the
wireless access point is not reachable, a red check ( ) will be displayed
before its name.
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’.
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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 Please select an 802.1x authentication type here.
Type The type you select here must be identical to the
type of the 802.1x authentication type you’re using.
Session You can enable or disable session resumption here.
Resumption If you don’t know if you should enable session
resumption or not, please ask your 802.1x
authentication administrator.
Identity Please input 802.1x identity here.
Password Please input the password of 802.1x identity here.
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Domain Name Please input the domain name of 802.1x
authentication here. This field will be grayed out
when authentication type is not ‘EAP-FAST’.
Use Client If the authentication type you use is ‘PEAP’ or
‘TTLS’, you can use the certificate stored on your
computer. If the authentication type you use is
‘TLS/Smart Card’, this box is always checked.
More.. After you clicked this button, you’ll be prompted to
select a certificate on your computer.
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’
authentication you can use protected authentication credential
credential by check this box.
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.
Protocol You can select the protocol of tunneled
authentication here. This pulldown menu is only
available when authentication type you use is
‘PEAP’ or ‘TTLS’. When you use ‘EAP-FAST’ as
authentication type, the protocol setting is always
‘Generic Token Card’ and can not be changed.
Identity Please input the identity of tunneled authentication
(of tunneled here.
authentication)
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Password Please input the password of tunneled authentication
(of tunneled here.
authentication)
Password Mode Please select the password mode of ‘EAP-FAST’
authentication mode. This setting is hidden when the
authentication type is not ‘EAP-FAST’.
After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save settings and exit.
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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 Check this box to enable the use of certificate chain.
chain
Certificate Please select the issuer of certificate from this
Issuer dropdown menu.
Allow Check this box if you wish to allow intermediate
intermediate certificates.
certificates
Server name Input the server name of CA server here.
Server name Check this box and the wireless configuration
must match utility will check if the server name of CA server
exactly you set here is exactly matched with the CA server
connected to. If they don’t match, connection will be
dropped.
Domain name Check this box and the wireless configuration utility
must end will check the end of domain name. If there’s
in specified name anything wrong, connection will be dropped.
After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save settings and exit.
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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. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right
corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.
2. Click ‘Statistics’ tab, and the statistics of wireless connection will be
displayed:
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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.
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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. Click ‘Link Status’ tab, and information about current wireless
connection will be displayed:
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These information displayed here are updated every second, and here
are descriptions of every item:
Status Displays 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 Info 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.
Link Speed Displays the link speed of data transmitting (Tx, in
Mbps) and receiving (Rx, in Mbps). Link speed is
the maximum available data transfer speed of the
wireless connection, and depends on the radio
signal quality of wireless connection.
Throughput Displays the rate of data transmitting (Tx, in Kbps)
and receiving (Rx, in Kbps).
Link Quality Displays link quality (radio signal quality). When
the link quality is better, the wireless link speed will
be better, too. Link quality is displayed by
percentage and a descriptive word (Good, normal,
weak, and low).
Signal Strength 1 Displays the radio signal strength of built-in
antenna 1.
Signal Strength 2 Displays the radio signal strength of built-in
antenna 2.
Noise Level Displays the percentage or level of noise (unusable)
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signal. If the value of this item is high, data transfer
rate will drop.
dBm Check this box and the value of signal strength and
noise level will be displayed in dBm level instead of
percentage.
There are several wireless statuses available at the bottom of this window.
For their explanations, please see chapter 3-3 ‘Glossary’.
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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. Click ‘Advanced’ tab, and the following settings will appear:
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Here are descriptions of every setup items:
Wireless mode Select wireless operation mode, available options
are 802.11 B/G mix, 802.11 B only, and 802.11
B/G/N mix. You can select 802.11 B/G/N mix to
maximize wireless compatibility with wireless
access points and other wireless devices. Anyway,
you can set this setting to ‘802.11 B only’ when
you’re going to communicate with old 802.11b
wireless devices and you got problem using other
two modes.
Wireless This setting helps your network card to avoid
Protection interference with other wireless devices when there
are both 802.11b and 802.11g wireless devices in
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the same place. It’s recommended to set this setting
to ‘Auto’ , since enabling this setting will slightly
reduce the data transfer performance.
TX Rate Normally, the wireless network card will adjust
transfer rate automatically according to wireless
signal quality. However, you can fix the data
transfer rate to a lower fixed rate if you think there’s
some problem about data transfer, or you’re too far
from wireless access point. It’s recommended to set
this setting to ‘Auto’, unless you really know the
meaning of this setting.
Tx BURST Check this box to accelerate the data transmit rate.
It may not work with all wireless access point and
wireless devices.
Enable TCP Check this box and the configuration utility will
Window Size adjust TCP window size automatically, to get better
performance. It should be safe for most of wireless
environments, but if you found some problem on
data transfer, uncheck this box.
Fast Roaming at Check this box and you can adjust the threshold of
when this wireless network card should switch to
another wireless access point with better signal
quality. Only adjust value when you understand
what it means.
Turn off RF Click this button to switch wireless radio off, click it
again switch wireless radio on.
Select Your The available channel differs from different
Country Region countries / regions. For example: USA(FCC) is
Code channel 1-11, Europe (ETSI) is channel 1-13. The
operating frequency channel will be restricted to the
country / region user located before importing.
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Show When your computer is being authenticated by
Authentication wireless authentication server, a dialog window
Status Dialog with the process of authentication will appear.
This function is helpful to find out the problem when
you can not be authenticated, and you can provide
this information to authentication server’s
administrator for debugging purpose.
Enable CCX Enable Cisco Compatible eXtensions. CCX is a
wireless feature developed by Cisco used to improve
the wireless performance with CCX compatible
wireless 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 access points in very
short time.
Enable Radio When you’re connecting to CCX-compatible
Measurement access point, check this box to enable radio
measurement function to improve wireless
connectivity.
Non-Serving When you’re connecting to CCX-compatible
Channel access point, check this box to enable measurement
Measurements on unused radio channels to improve wireless
connectivity.
Limit --- Limit the time used for said measurement to a
milliseconds certain time. Default value is 250.
After you finish the settings, click ‘Apply’ to apply new settings, and
click ‘OK’ to close configuration utility.
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2-6 QoS Setting
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.
Please follow the following instructions to set advanced wireless settings:
Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right
corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.
Click ‘QoS’ tab, and the following settings will appear:
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Here are descriptions of every setup items:
WMM Enable Check this box to enable WMM function. Please
click ‘Apply’ button on the right of this check box
after you check or uncheck this box, so
corresponding settings in this window will be
activated or deactivated respectively.
WMM - Power Enable WMM power saving mode to save energy
Save Enable and lets your battery live 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
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Effort), AC_VI (Video First), and AC_VO (Voice
First).
Direct Link Enable or disable direct link setup (DLS) function.
Setup Enable This function will greatly improve the data transfer
rate between WMM-enabled wireless devices.
Please click ‘Apply’ button on the right of this check
box after you check or uncheck this box, so
corresponding settings in this window will be
activated or deactivated respectively.
MAC Address Input the MAC address of another WMM-enabled
wireless device you wish to establish a direct link
here, then click ‘Apply’ to add this MAC address to
DLS address table.
Timeout Value Input the timeout value of this WMM-enabled direct
link wireless device. If the wireless
device is not responding after this time, it will be
removed from DLS table.
Tear Down If you want to remove a specific wireless device
from DLS table, select the device and click this
button to remove it.
After you finish the settings, click ‘OK’ to close configuration utility.
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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. All you have to do is go to the WPS setup page of
this wireless card, click a button (if your wireless card has a hardware
WPS button, you can also simply push the hardware WPS button on the
wireless card), and then press a specific button on the wireless access
point you wish to establish a secure connection - just three simple steps!
For older wireless access points, it’s possible to perform a firmware
upgrade to become a WPS-enabled access point. Since they may not have
a hardware button to press for WPS setup, you can use an alternative
WPS setup method – input the pin code. Every WPS-compatible wireless
network card comes with a unique WPS pin code; you can just input the
code to wireless access point, and the wireless access point and wireless
network card will do the rest for you.
This wireless network card is compatible with WPS. To use this function,
the wireless access point you wish to connect to must support WPS
function too. Now, please follow the following instructions to establish
secure connection between WPS-enabled wireless access point and your
wireless network card:
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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. Click ‘WPS Configuration’ tab, and the following settings will appear:
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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. Please make sure the access
point you wish to connect is displayed. If not, please click ‘Rescan’ few
more times. You can also click ‘Information’ button to see the detailed
information about selected access point.
5. Click ‘PBC’ button now to start to establish wireless connection by
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WPS, and please be patient (This may require several seconds to one
minute to complete). When you see ‘WPS status is connected
successfully’ message, means the connection between your wireless
network card and access point is successfully connected by WPS, and the
information about access point you connected to will be displayed.
Sometime WPS may fail, and you can click ‘PBC’ button few more times
to try again. When an access point is connected, you can click
‘Disconnect’ to disconnect your wireless network card from a connected
access point, or select another WPS-enabled wireless access point, then
click ‘Connect’ to establish connection to selected access point, if there
are more than one WPS-enabled access point found. You can also click
‘Rotate’ button, and next access point on the list will be selected to
establish connection.
If you want to delete a found access point from the list, select it and click
‘Delete’ button.
TIPS: If your wireless network card has a hardware WPS button, you
can also push the hardware WPS button, it’s the same as the ‘PBC’
button in configuration utility.
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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:
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The PIN number of your wireless network card is an eight-digit number
located at the upper-right position of configuration utility. Remember it,
and input the number to your wireless access point as the WPS PIN code
(Please refer to the user manual of your wireless access point for
instructions about how to do this).
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: The PIN code of every wireless network card is DIFFERENT.
Please don’t use the sample code shown here.
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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 these information:
1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at lower-right
corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.
2. Click ‘About’ tab, and the following settings will appear:
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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.
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CHAPTER III: APPENDIX
3-1 Hardware Specification
Standards: IEEE 802.11b/g/Draft-N
Interface: USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 Compatible)
Frequency Band: 2.4000 ~ 2.4835GHz (Industrial Scientific Medical Band)
Data Rate: 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: WEP 64/128, WPA, WPA2
Cisco CCX Support
Antenna: Internal 2 Antennas with One TX and Two RX
Drivers: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista Server
LEDs: Link/Activity
Temperature: 32~131°F (0 ~ 55°C)
Humidity: 10-95% (NonCondensing)
Certification: FCC, CE
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3-2 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 point / wireless
device in ‘Site Survey’
function.
1. Click ‘Rescan’ for few more times and
see if you can find any wireless access
point or wireless device.
2. Please move closer to any known
wireless access point.
3. ‘Ad hoc’ function must be enabled for
the wireless device you wish to establish
a direct wireless link.
4. Please adjust the position of network
card (you may have to move your
computer if you’re using a notebook
computer) and click ‘Rescan’ button for
few more times. If you can find the
wireless access point or wireless device
you want to connect by doing this, try to
move closer to the place where the
wireless access point or wireless device
is located.
Nothing happens when I
click ‘Launch config
utilities’
1. Please make sure the wireless network
card is inserted into your computer’s
USB port. If the Ralink configuration
utility’s icon is black, the network card
is not detected by your computer.
2. Reboot the computer and try again.
3. Remove the card and insert it into
another USB port.
4. Remove the driver and re-install.
5. Contact the dealer of purchase for help.
I can not establish
connection with a certain
1. Click ‘Connect’ for few more times.
2. If the SSID of access point you wish to
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wireless access point connect is hidden (nothing displayed in
‘SSID’ field in ‘Site Survey’ function),
you have to input correct SSID of the
access point you wish to connect. Please
contact the owner of access point to ask
for correct SSID.
3. You have to input correct passphrase /
security key to connect an access point
with encryption. Please contact 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.
The network is slow /
having problem when
transferring large files
1. Move closer to the place where access
point is located.
2. Enable ‘Wireless Protection’ in
‘Advanced’ tab.
3. Try a lower TX Rate in ‘Advanced’ tab.
4. Disable ‘Tx Burst’ in ‘Advanced’ tab.
5. Enable ‘WMM’ in ‘QoS’ tab if you need
to use multimedia / telephony related
applications.
6. Disable ‘WMM – Power Save Enable’ in
‘QoS’ tab.
7. There could be too much people using
the same radio channel. Ask the owner
of the access point to change the channel
number.
Please try one or more solutions listed
above.
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3-3 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
802.11g standard requires backward compatibility with 802.11b.
The standard specifically calls for:
A. A new physical layer for the 802.11 Medium Access Control
(MAC) in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, known as the extended
rate PHY (ERP). The ERP adds OFDM as a mandatory new
coding scheme for 6, 12 and 24 Mbps (mandatory speeds), and 18,
36, 48 and 54 Mbps (optional speeds). The ERP includes the
modulation schemes found in 802.11b including CCK for 11 and
5.5 Mbps and Barker code modulation for 2 and 1 Mbps.
B. A protection mechanism called RTS/CTS that governs how
802.11g devices and 802.11b devices interoperate.
2. What is the IEEE 802.11b standard?
The IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN standard subcommittee, which
formulates the standard for the industry. The objective is to enable
wireless LAN hardware from different manufactures to
communicate.
3. What does IEEE 802.11 feature support?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11 functions:
z CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge Protocol
z Multi-Channel Roaming
z Automatic Rate Selection
z RTS/CTS Feature
z Fragmentation
z Power Management
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.
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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. What is BSS ID?
A specific Ad hoc LAN is called a Basic Service Set (BSS).
Computers in a BSS must be configured with the same BSS ID.
7. What is WEP?
WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy, a data privacy mechanism based
on a 40 bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802 .11
standard.
8. What is TKIP?
TKIP is a quick-fix method to quickly overcome the inherent
weaknesses in WEP security, especially the reuse of encryption keys.
TKIP is involved in the IEEE 802.11i WLAN security standard, and
the specification might be officially released by early 2003.
9. What is AES?
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), a chip-based security, has
been developed to ensure the highest degree of security and
authenticity for digital information, wherever and however
communicated or stored, while making more efficient use of
hardware and/or software than previous encryption standards. It is
also included in IEEE 802.11i standard. Compare with AES, TKIP is
a temporary protocol for replacing WEP security until manufacturers
implement AES at the hardware level.
10. Can Wireless products support printer sharing?
Wireless products perform the same function as LAN products.
Therefore, Wireless products can work with Netware, Windows
2000, or other LAN operating systems to support printer or file
sharing.
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.
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12. What is DSSS? What is FHSS? And what are their differences?
Frequency-hopping spread-spectrum (FHSS) uses a narrowband
carrier that changes frequency in a pattern that is known to both
transmitter and receiver. Properly synchronized, the net effect is to
maintain a single logical channel. To an unintended receiver, FHSS
appears to be short-duration impulse noise. Direct-sequence
spread-spectrum (DSSS) generates a redundant bit pattern for each
bit to be transmitted. This bit pattern is called a chip (or chipping
code). The longer the chip is, the greater the probability that the
original data can be recovered. Even if one or more bits in the chip
are damaged during transmission, statistical techniques embedded in
the radio can recover the original data without-the need for
retransmission. To an unintended receiver, DSSS appears as low
power wideband noise and is rejected (ignored) by most narrowband
receivers.
13. What is Spread Spectrum?
Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency
technique developed by the military for use in reliable, secure,
mission-critical communication systems. It is designed to trade off
bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In other
words, more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of narrowband
transmission, but the trade off produces a signal that is, in effect,
louder and thus easier to detect, provided that the receiver knows the
parameters of the spread-spectrum signal being broadcast. If a
receiver is not tuned to the right frequency, a spread –spectrum
signal looks like background noise. There are two main alternatives,
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping
Spread Spectrum (FHSS).
14. What is WMM?
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), a group of features for wireless
networks that improve the user experience for audio, video and
voice applications. WMM is based on a subset of the IEEE 802.11e
WLAN QoS draft standard. WMM adds prioritized capabilities to
Wi-Fi networks and optimizes their performance when multiple
concurring applications, each with different latency and throughput
requirements, compete for network resources. By using WMM,
end-user satisfaction is maintained in a wider variety of
environments and traffic conditions. WMM makes it possible for
home network users and enterprise network managers to decide
which data streams are most important and assign them a higher
traffic priority.
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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. With WMM Power
Save, the same amount of data can be transmitted in a shorter time
while allowing the Wi-Fi device to remain longer in a low-power
“dozing” state.
16. What is GI?
GI stands for Guard Interval. It’s a measure to protect wireless
devices from cross- interference. If there are two wireless devices
using the same or near channel, and they are close enough, radio
interference will occur and reduce the radio resource usability.
17. What is STBC?
STBC stands for Space-Time Block Coding, which is a technique
used to transfer multiple copies of data by multiple antenna, to
improve data transfer performance. By using multiple antennas, not
only data transfer rate is improved, but also the wireless stability.
18. What is WPS?
WPS stands for Wi-Fi Protected Setup. It provides a simple way to
establish unencrypted or encrypted connections between wireless
clients and access point automatically. User can press a software or
hardware button to activate WPS function, and WPS-compatible
wireless clients and access point will establish connection by
themselves. There are two types of WPS: PBC (Push-Button
Configuration) and PIN code.
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3-4 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. 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. However, there is no
guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this
equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception,
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is
encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following
measures:
1. Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
2. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
3. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to
which the receiver is connected.
4. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio technician for help.
FCC Caution
This device and its antenna must not be co-located or operating in conjunction
with any other antenna or transmitter.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference,
and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including
interference that may cause undesired operation.
Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible
for compliance could void the authority to operate equipment.
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Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radiation Exposure
Statement
This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure set forth for an
uncontrolled environment. This EUT is compliance with SAR for general
population/uncontrolled exposure limits in ANSI/IEEE C95.1-1999 and had
been tested in accordance with the measurement methods and procedures
specified in OET Bulletin 65 Supplement C.
The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must not be co-located or operating in
conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.
R&TTE Compliance Statement
This equipment complies with all the requirements of DIRECTIVE 1999/5/EC
OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL of March 9, 1999 on
radio equipment and telecommunication terminal Equipment and the mutual
recognition of their conformity (R&TTE)
The R&TTE Directive repeals and replaces in the directive 98/13/EEC
(Telecommunications Terminal Equipment and Satellite Earth Station
Equipment) As of April 8, 2000.
Safety
This equipment is designed with the utmost care for the safety of those who
install and use it. However, special attention must be paid to the dangers of
electric shock and static electricity when working with electrical equipment. All
guidelines of this and of the computer manufacture must therefore be allowed
at all times to ensure the safe use of the equipment.
EU Countries Intended for Use
The ETSI version of this device is intended for home and office use in Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom.
The ETSI version of this device is also authorized for use in EFTA member
states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
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EU Countries Not intended for use
None.