GemTek Technology C920730G Wireless 11g Cardbus Adapter User Manual WL 211F

Gemtek Technology Co., Ltd. Wireless 11g Cardbus Adapter WL 211F

Manual revised

                                                                                                                                                                                   Gemtek Technology Co., Ltd. WL-818F  Wireless 11g Cardbus Adapter  User’s Guide                  Version 1.1               User’s Guide   0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Copyright statement  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior writing of the publisher.  July. 2003                                                 User’s Guide   1
                                                                                                                                                                             Contents  1. Introduction............................................................................................................... 3 2. Wireless LAN Basics ................................................................................................ 4 3. Installation for Windows platform ........................................................................... 5 3.1. Installation Overview…………………………………………………………………………………..6 3.2. Install Procedure for Windows XP……………………………………………………….7 3.3. Install Procedure for Windows 98/ME/2000…………………………………………….9 4. Configuration Utility ............................................................................................... 17 4.1 Link Information…………………………………………………………………………………………19 4.2 Availiable Network…………………………………………………………………………21 4.3 Profile Setting……………………………………………………………………………………………22 4.4 About………………………………………………………………………………………………………26 5. Troubleshooting...................................................................................................... 27                                  User’s Guide   2
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. Introduction  Thank you for purchasing your Wireless LAN 802.11g Adapter. This Quick Installation Guide will assist you with the installation procedure.   The package you have received should contain the following items:  •  Wireless LAN  802.11g Adapter •  Quick Installation Guide •  CD containing Wireless LAN Management utility, drivers and Multi-lingual User’s Guide Note: if anything is missing, please contact your vendor   The CD contains drivers and Configuration Utility program that is used for managing the Wireless LAN Adapters and establishing the wireless connection with your Local Area Network.   Note: This manual is valid for all Wireless LAN 11g Series products, such as PC Card, USB, mini-USB, PCI adapter, mini-PCI…etc.  User’s Guide   3
                                                                                                                                                                             2. Wireless LAN Basics Wireless LAN (Local Area Networks) systems offer a great number of advantages over a traditional, wired system. Wireless LANs (WLANs) are more flexible, easier to setup and manage and often more cost effective than their wired equivalence.  Using radio frequency (RF) technology, WLANs transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Thus, WLANs combine data connectivity with user mobility, and, through simplified configuration, enable movable LANs.  With wireless LANs, users can access shared information without looking for a place to plug in and network managers can set up or augment networks without installing or moving wires. Wireless LANs offer the following productivity, convenience and cost advantages over traditional wired networks:     •  Mobility - Wireless LAN systems can provide LAN users with access to real-time information anywhere in their organization. This mobility supports productivity and service opportunities not possible with wired networks.  •  Installation Speed and Simplicity - Installing a wireless LAN system can be fast and easy and can eliminate the need to pull cable through walls and ceilings.   •  Installation Flexibility - Wireless technology allows the network to go where wires cannot go.  •  Reduced Cost-of-Ownership - While the initial investment required for wireless LAN hardware might be higher than the cost of wired LAN hardware, overall installation expenses and life-cycle costs will be significantly lower. Long-term cost benefits are greatest in dynamic environments requiring frequent moves, adds, and changes.   •  Scalability - Wireless LAN systems can be configured in a variety of topologies to meet the needs of specific applications and installations. Configurations are easily changed and range from peer-to-peer to full infrastructure networks, also allow roaming over a broad area.                User’s Guide   4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        3. Installation for Windows platform The following section will assist you in installing wireless LAN Adapter successfully. You will first install software (Utility) and then insert / attach the Wireless LAN Adapter to your system, and finally set the network properties to accommodate resource sharing and select the type of wireless network that you wish to install. The Wireless LAN card can easily be installed and used, without bothering to connect cables for keeping your computer to use network resources.  User’s Guide   5
                                                                                                                                                                             3.1. Installation Overview Here are some steps you will perform in establishing your wireless network connection:   Install the Access Point at first. AP is needed in case of Infrastructure network mode.   Install the software using the Install CD.   Install the Wireless LAN Card (WIRELESS LAN 802.11g Adapter).  Install the network protocol(s) required to communicate on your network. Most likely you will need the TCP/IP protocol.     User’s Guide   6
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        3.2. Install Procedure for Windows XP             Important Notice In order to make right use of WPA, please ensure that your current Wireless Adapter’s driver, and Wireless Utility can support it, WPA needs 802.1x authentication (when RADIUS mode is chosen),though the Operating System must also support 802.1x protocol. For Microsoft’s OS family, only Windows XP has incorporated this by default. The rest of the OS must installed 3er party’s client software such as Funk ODySSey. Note: Do not insert the WLAN Adapter until you are asked to do so, failure of which may result in unsuccessfulinstallation of your  WLAN device.  1.   Insert the given Installation CD in the CD-ROM and then click on the Install Config Utilities. Follow the instruction to finish the installation.  2.  Insert your WLAN card into PCMCIA/PCI slot or USB connector of your system, and then system will detect new hardware.     Select “Install the software automatically (Recommended) ”, and then click Next to continue.                          User’s Guide   7
                                                                                                                                                                             Once your system detected the driver, Microsoft will show a warning message as below.    Click “ Continue Anyway ” for next step.     After copy the file to your system, then the setup is finish.  User’s Guide   8
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        3.3. Install Procedure for Windows 98/ME/2000    Note: Do not insert the WLAN Adapter until you are asked to do so, failure of which may result in unsuccessfulinstallation of your WLAN device. Please follow the following steps one by one in order to install the WLAN  Adapter successfully.  1. Power on your computer and allow Windows 98/ME/2000 to load fully. 2. Be sure that the Wireless LAN  802.11g Adapter is not inserted yet.  3. Insert the given Installation CD in the CD-ROM and then click on the Install Config Utilities.     At the “ Welcome” window, click Next.          User’s Guide   9
                                                                                                                                                                             4. Accept the license agreement.     Accept the license agreement. Click Yes to accept.                          Click Yes to finish the setup.  User’s Guide   10
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         5. Insert  /  attach  Wireless LAN 802.11g Adapter to your system Windows will recognize the WLAN adapter and auto detect the driver, if the system did not find the driver automatically, please install the driver manually.                         Click Yes to finish the installation.                                 User’s Guide   11
                                                                                                                                                                              6.  Click the right button of mouse on My Computer  Properties  HardwareDevice Manager.   Check whether it has WLAN adapter in one of the sockets or not.  If you find Wireless Network PC Card in one of the sockets, it means the card is detected properly.                       7.   Click right button of mouse on the Network Neighborhood. User’s Guide   12
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         8. Select Properties from the pop up menu. For Windows 98 the network’s properties box appears.  * For Windows ME and 2000, please select the Local Area Connection’s properties to check the following menu.     9.  Click on the General tab and then click on the Install button. Select Network Component Type box appears. Click on the Protocol then click the Add button.  User’s Guide   13
                                                                                                                                                                              10. Select Network Protocols box appears.  From the list of network protocols list, select NetBEUI, then click OK.                                        11. The  NetBEUI protocol is now installed. After clicking on OK return back to Network Component Type box. 12. Repeat the step 9 and 10 to add IPX/SPX protocol. User’s Guide   14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         13. Click on the TCP/IP option for setting the IP address for your computer. You can select either Obtain an IP address automatically or Use the following IP address setting. If your choice is the second one then enter the IP value, Subnet masking, DNS,  Domain/  Workgroup name, and Gateway Address values. After setting these parameters appropriately, click OK to return to Network Component Type and you can select the File and Printer Sharing options as well for sharing your computers resources. Click on OK.                                           14. Screen message do want to restart your Computer will pop up. Select Yes. It will shut down your computer and restart.     Important: In order to make sure that the changed values could take effect, please Restartyour computer before continue. User’s Guide   15
                                                                                                                                                                             Uninstall Procedure   Step 1:              If you want to uninstall the WLAN adapter, just simply click                                   Start Menu  Program    Wireless Network  Uninstall,                        it shall uninstall all related programs.                           Step 2:    Restart your Computer.   User’s Guide   16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        4. Configuration Utility Wireless LAN 802.11g Wireless LAN adapter uses its own management software. All functions controlled by user are provided by this application. Usually this application starts automatically,  or click    icon from Start Menu to start the Utility application. A new icon -   should appear in your Icon tray. If the icon is in red, it means that Wireless LAN 802.11g NIC configuration is invalid or incomplete. Sometimes icon can be colored in yellow. This may happen when communication is defined poor connection or incorrectly.  Figure 1 Icon tray with a new icon                                                                            User’s Guide   17
                                                                                                                                                                              User can navigate through “sheets”, by clicking tabs.  “X” button will minimize window.  To provide more information, click “More…” button. Below description explains the use  and meanings of the various screen messages.    User’s Guide   18
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        4.1 Link Information  -  Connected To Network -   -    This field is used to display the current status of connection. When the state shows “Connected to Network“ means normal flow of operation in Infrastructure mode. The PC is connected to access point.  Networking is available.  A state of “Scanning” means that the node is searching for available access point and detecting  the SSID for an available access point within range.  This field will also display an error message for some reason if the driver fails to initialize.   Network Type Infrastructure Mode   - The driver will scan all available channels continuously until it finds one or more Access Points that match its SSID.  At that point it will try and authenticate and associate with the Access Point.       Peer to Peer Mode   - The driver will scan for 5 seconds looking for an existing Ad Hoc network      using the same SSID.   -  Current Channel and Transmit Rate User’s Guide   19
                                                                                                                                                                                 Shows the channel of the radio and transmit rate being currently used for an active connection.         This value has no meaning when the radio is “Scanning”  -  Link Quality The Link Quality bar graph is only active when the node is in Infrastructure Mode.  The bar graph displays the quality of the link between the node and Access Point.     -  Signal Strength       The Signal Strength bar graph is only active when the node is in Infrastructure Mode. The bar           graph displays normalized signal strength as reported by the radio, averaged over all frames over      100 bytes long that are received from the Access Point. User’s Guide   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         4.2 Availiable Networks   The Connections Tab shows  current status of available APs within the network.                                       User may select profile or ESSID from above list, click “Connect” to connect with the AP.  Click “Refresh”  to rescan the network, this utility with site survey function, it will detect and list all available AP’s within network.     .                         User’s Guide   21
                                                                                                                                                                             4.3 Profile Setting  Profile Setting allows user to create profiles for different network environments.                                     Click “Add” button to create new profiles.  “Edit” for editing current exist profile. Click “Delete” button if you wish to delete profiles.                                        -  Network Type        This field allows you to select from a list of supported Network “Modes”.  The modes displayed will have two values:  “Peer to Peer” and “Access Point”.     Peer to Peer   - This is the 802.11g peer-to-peer mode of operation.  In 802.11g Ad Hoc, only one wireless “cell” is supported for each different SSID.  All communication is done from Client to Client without the use of an Access Point. 802.11g  Ad Hoc networking uses the same SSID for establishing the wireless connection. User’s Guide   22
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Access Point - This mode of operation requires the presence of an 802.11g / 802.11b  Access Point.  All communication is done via the Access Point, which relays packets to other wireless Clients in the BSS as well as to nodes on a wired network such as Ethernet.       Transmit Rate – The transmission rate at which client of AP transmits the data packets. You may set this to fixed 1Mbps, fixed 2 Mbps, fixed 5.5 Mbps, fixed 11 Mbps or Automatic for 802.11b’s AP and fixed 6Mbps, fixed 9Mbps, fixed 12Mbps, fixed 18Mbps, fixed 24Mbps, fixed 36Mbps, fixed 48Mbps, fixed 54Mbps or Automatic for 802.11g’s AP.           Encryption (WEP) - You may desire an additional measure of security on your wireless network, which can be achieved by using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption.                        User’s Guide   23
                                                                                                                                                                              When an encrypted frame is received it will only be accepted if it decrypts correctly.  This will only happen if the receiver has the WEP Key used by the transmitter.      This panel allows to entry for 64/128-bit encryption according to WEP function select. To be written to the driver and registry, such as Hexadecimal format, each key must consist of hex digits, which means that only digit 0-9 and letters A-F are valid entries. If entered incorrectly program will not write keys to a driver.                                                           User’s Guide   24
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        To enable the used of IP Setting, please select enable.    The main purpose to make used of this function is to properly configure the TCP/IP setting of each wireless connection.   Please define if the current Profile IP setting will be assign by a DHCP Server or just assign by a fixed IP that is determinate by the Network Administrator.  When the DHCP Status is Enable, the TCP/IP information will be assigned by a DHCP Server. Or otherwise please fill up with the correspondence data of the IP settings. User’s Guide   25
                                                                                                                                                                              4.4 About       “About” tab shows the product version including the detail of Driver, Application and firmware versions. Users must use this version number when reporting their problems to technical support.                    User’s Guide   26
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        5. Troubleshooting             If you encounter any problems during the installation, or to confirm that the WLAN 11Mbps device is installed properly, please read the following troubleshooting section.    In Windows 98:      To check that the WLAN 802.11g device is installed properly, please do the following: 1.  Go to START>SETTINGS>CONTROL PANEL>NETWORK.  Choose the Configuration Tab.  If you find the WLAN 802.11g Adapter, it means the card is installed properly. If you see the Yellow Question-mark (?) means the resources are conflicting. (Please read further in this section for solutions.)  -or- 2.  Right click on My Computer and select Properties.  Select the Device Manager  and click on the Network Adapter. You will find the WLAN 802.11g Adapter if it is installed successfully.  If you see the Yellow sign, the resources are conflicting.  Click on the PCMCIA Card and then on the PCMCIA Card Service, you can see the status of the PC card.  If there is a yellow sign either on the adapter or the PC card, please check the following.  1.  Check to see if your computer has a free IRQ.  If not, make an IRQ free by assigning the same IRQ to some devices, for example COM 1; COM 2 can be assigned the same IRQ values. 2.  Check that you have inserted the right card and have installed the proper driver.             In Windows 2000:     1. Check the Windows 2000 Diagnostics.  See if there is any conflict in the resource allocation or the I/O Address, IRQ allocations.  If you find that the IRQ or I/O Addresses are already assigned to some other devices, you must change that value.  I/O Address needs 40h byte length.  2.  Go to the Control panel.  Double click on the PCMCIA Card and you will see WLAN Adapter.  Double clicking on that will show you the Card Information, driver name and the driver file. If you do not find the names, there are some problems and the driver is not installed properly.  Reinstall the driver.  Note: Check the PnP BIOS setup menu and select no in case of the WLAN Adapter installation.         User’s Guide   27
                                                                                                                                                                             Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, used 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 of the following measures:  -  Reorient or relocates the receiving antenna. -  Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. -  Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. -  Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.  FCC Caution: Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate this equipment.  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.  IMPORTANT NOTE: FCC Radiation Exposure Statement: This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment, under 47 CFR 2.1093 paragraph (d)(2). This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. User’s Guide   28
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        R&TTE Compliance Statement This equipment complies with all the requirements of the DIRECTIVE 1999/5/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunication terminal Equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity (R&TTE).  The R&TTE Directive repeats 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 electrics shock and static electricity when working with electrical equipment. All guidelines of this manual and of the computer manufacturer 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 (with Frequency channel restrictions), Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.  The ETSI version of this device is also authorized for use in EFTA member states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.  EU Countries Not intended for use None.  IMPORTANT NOTE: Channels 12 through 14 are not allowed in the US. User’s Guide   29

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