3Com 3CRWE73796B User Manual

AirConnect

11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card User Guide

Version 2.0

http://www.3com.com/ http://www.3com.com/productreg

Part No. 09-2046-000 Published December 2000

3Com Corporation Bayfront Plaza Clara, California 95052-8145

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Santa

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U.S.A.

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5400

Copyright © 2000 3Com Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Corporation.

3Com Corporation reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Corporation to provide notiﬁcation of such revision or change.

3Com Corporation provides this documentation without warranty, term, or condition of any kind, either implied or expressed, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties, terms or conditions of merchantability, satisfactory quality, and ﬁtness for a particular purpose. 3Com may make improvements or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation at any time.

If there is any software on removable media described in this documentation, it is furnished under a license agreement included with the product as a separate document, in the hard copy documentation, or on the removable media in a directory ﬁle named LICENSE.TXT or !LICENSE.TXT. If you are unable to locate a copy, please contact 3Com and a copy will be provided to you.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LEGEND

If you are a United States government agency, then this documentation and the software described herein are provided to you subject to the following:

All technical data and computer software are commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. Software is delivered as “Commercial Computer Software” as deﬁned in DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995) or as a “commercial item” as deﬁned in FAR 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such rights as are provided in 3Com’s standard commercial license for the Software. Technical data is provided with limited rights only as provided in DFAR 252.227-7015 (Nov 1995) or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is applicable. You agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User Guide.

Unless otherwise indicated, 3Com registered trademarks are registered in the United States and may or may not be registered in other countries.

3Com and AirConnect are registered trademarks and the 3Com logo is a trademark of 3Com Corporation.

Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

EXPORT RESTRICTIONS: This product or software contains encryption code which may not be exported or

transferred from the U.S. or Canada without an approved US Department of Commerce export license.

ONTENTS

EFORE

Introduction 1 Features 1 Installation Overview 2 Disk Factory 3

OFTWARE

Introduction 4 Installation Notes 4

Windows 98 4 Windows 95 4 Windows NT 4.0 4

Windows CE 4 Before Installing the Drivers 5 Installing the Drivers 5 Installing the Card Software 6 Installing the Documentation 6 Product Registration and Support 6 Uninstalling the Card 6

Removing Card Software 7

Removing the Card 7 Troubleshooting 7

NSTALLATION

EGIN

NSTALLING

Before Installing the Driver 8 Installing the Driver 8 Setup With Networking Installed 9 Setup with No Networking Installed 9 Conﬁguring the Adapter 9 Troubleshooting 10

NSTALLATION

Introduction 11 Installation Procedure 11

Transferring AirConnect Files to Your Mobile Device 11

Conﬁguring AirConnect on Your Mobile Device 12

INDOWS

FOR

INDOWS

NT D

RIVERS

OFTWARE

Introduction 13 Easy Setup 13 Status 14

Settings 15 Connection 15

Adapter Information 16 Firmware Upgrade 17 Encryption 17

Encryption Conﬁguration Requirements 17

Enabling Encryption on the Wireless Client 17

Encryption Upgrade Access Codes 18

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me 18 Windows 2000 18 Windows NT 4.0 18

Ad Hoc Operation 19

802.11 Ad Hoc 19

Proprietary Ad Hoc 19

Testing Ad Hoc Operation 19

NSTALLING

Installing the PC Card 20 Wireless PC Card LED 20 Removing the PC Card 21

ONFIGURATION

THE

PC C

ARD

, T

OOLS

AND

TILITIES

PGRADE

Introduction 22 Windows 95B (OSR 2) Wireless Client Upgrade Procedure 22 Windows Me, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE Wireless Client Upgrade

Procedure 23 Windows NT 4.0 Workstation/Server Wireless Client Upgrade Procedure 24 Windows 2000 Professional Wireless Client Upgrade Procedure 25

ECHNICAL

Online Technical Services 27

World Wide Web Site 27

3Com FTP Site 27 Support from Your Network Supplier 27 Support from 3Com 28 Returning Products for Repair 29

ROCEDURES

UPPORT

NDEX

ARRANTY

3Com Corporation Limited Warranty 32 Regulatory Compliance Information 33 3Com End User Software License Agreement 34

AND

EGULATORY

OMPLIANCE

Introduction

Features

EFORE

The AirConnect networks, but without the restraints of network cables. The AirConnect product family includes the 3CRWE73796B wireless PC Card described in this manual.

AirConnect adapters use IEEE 802.11 B direct-sequence-based technology to extend the range and versatility of a network. They provide a high-capacity link across multiple access points within large or small indoor environments. AirConnect product-family features include:

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A bridging architecture that allows communication between wired network devices and mobile devices.

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Compliance with IEEE 802.11 B speciﬁcation, an open architecture that allows AirConnect devices to communicate with wireless devices from other manufacturers.

wireless network offers performance comparable to Ethernet

EGIN

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Extended roaming to allow mobile devices to roam throughout large facilities while remaining connected to the LAN.

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Ad hoc mode that allows notebook PC users to create an instant network to share data anywhere and anytime without the need for an access point.

AirConnect PC Card operating features include:

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Support for standard NDIS (Network Driver Interface Speciﬁcation) and drivers.

Support for Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows 2000, Windows 98,

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Windows 95B (OSR 2), Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 3.0 or greater), and Windows CE 2.11 and 3.0.

Card and Socket Services support, including SystemSoft, CardSoft, and

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CardWizard.

Plug and Play support.

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Power management.

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Low-power operation for battery-powered devices with PC Card slots.

Installation Overview 2

AirConnect Wireless LAN cards support a maximum data rate of 11 Mbps. (The data rate drops back to 5.5, 2, or 1 Mbps when the adapter cannot establish or maintain an 11 Mbps association.) Factors that can affect the data rate include:

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A separation or change in signal strength between the Access Point and the wireless client

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The ratio of packets transmitted to transmissions attempted falling below a preset threshold

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The wireless client ﬁnding and switching to another Access Point with a higher transmit rate

Roaming means the AirConnect PC Card will maintain your network connection as you roam between Access Points in the same subnet. You can also roam across routers, depending on how your extended roaming conﬁguration is set. When conﬁgured for extended roaming, the wireless client retains its network address as it moves between subnets, between Ethernet segments, or from an Ethernet segment to a wireless LAN. See “Easy Setup” on page 13 for details.

Installation Overview

The wireless LAN PC Card supports

Continuous Active and Power Save Polling

power-management modes.

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In Continuous Active Mode , the radio that establishes and maintains the link to the network remains on. Continuous Active mode is not recommended for battery powered devices.

Power Save Polling conserves power by suspending the adapter’s

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communication with an associated access point. The access point saves data for transmission to the wireless client when it wakes at given intervals. When the adapter wakes to check for data, it switches back into

Mode

until it is ready to suspend communications again.

Continuous Active

Installing the AirConnect wireless network PC Card involves these tasks:

Running the Setup program from the Installation CD . See “Installing the

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Drivers” on page 5.

Installing the PC Card. Do not install the card until instructed to do so by the

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setup software. The procedure for installing the PC Card is described in “Installing the PC Card” on page 20.

Installing the software, including the drivers for the card and the AirConnect

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software utilities. See “Installing the Card Software” on page 6.

If you are reading this manual from the CD and want to install it on your hard disk for easier access, see “Installing the Documentation” on page 6.

The card installation procedure covers basic conﬁguration. For advanced

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conﬁguration options, or to explore the utilities available for managing and conﬁguring the card, see “Software Conﬁguration, Tools, and Utilities” on page 13.

HAPTER

1: B

EFORE

EGIN

Disk Factory

If you are installing the software on a computer that does not have a CD-ROM drive, or if you choose to install the drivers manually, you will have to make diskettes from the

Installation CD . The setup application includes Disk Factory, a

utility for creating disks from CD. To use disk factory, you need access to a computer with a CD-ROM drive and a ﬂoppy drive.

For a transfer of the driver software to a diskette, prepare a diskette labeled

Drivers.

For a transfer of the application software to diskette, prepare three disks labeled as follows:

AirConnect Application Disk 1

AirConnect Application Disk 2

AirConnect Application Disk 3

2 Put the Installation CD in the CD-ROM drive. The SETUP program should start

automatically. If it does not start, you can run it manually by selecting Run from the Start menu.

3 Select Create Diskettes.

4 In the Disk Factory window, click Next.

5 Select the software you want to transfer to diskette. If you select All, you will need

four ﬂoppy diskettes.

6 Select the action, for example, Create and Verify Disks, and click Next.

7 When you are ready to install the application software from diskette, put

AirConnect Application Disk 1 in the ﬂoppy drive and run SETUP.

If you are installing the drivers manually, use the Drivers diskette when the setup wizard for your operating system prompts for drivers supplied by the manufacturer.

SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

Introduction Use the procedures described in this chapter to install the AirConnect wireless PC

Card software and drivers under Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me).

Installation Notes The following paragraphs described special considerations for particular operating

systems.

Windows 98

Windows 95 Windows 95 users should note that the AirConnect wireless PC Card runs under

Windows NT 4.0 Windows NT 4.0 users should refer to the driver installation instructions described

■ Installation under Windows 98 may result in a fatal error caused by the

UHCD.SYS ﬁle in the Windows 98 operating system. To avoid this problem, you should update the UHCD.SYS ﬁle from v4.10.1998 to v4.10.2000. This update is available from the following web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/ WURecommended/systemupdata/Default.asp

■ Note that the ﬁnal Windows 98 installation screen may take 30-60 seconds to

appear. Do not interrupt the installation if the PC appears to be taking too much time to complete the installation.

Windows 95 version B (OSR 2) or higher. If you do not know which version of Windows 95 is installed on your computer, follow these steps:

1 In the Control Panel, double-click System to display the System Properties dialog

box.

2 Click the General Tab to display the Windows 95 version information.

Version B (also known as OSR 2) is identiﬁed as 4.00.950b.

in “Installing Windows NT Drivers” on page 8.

Windows CE Windows CE users should refer to the “Installation for Windows CE” section.

Drivers for other operating systems are located at the 3Com Customer Support Web site at:

http://support.3com.com

5 CHAPTER 2: SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

Before Installing the Drivers

Before installing the Windows 98 driver, you will need a copy of the Windows 98 installation media supplied with your computer or operating system. On many Windows 98 systems, instead of a CD, the installation ﬁles are archived on the hard disk in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS. On Windows 2000 systems, you may be prompted to load operating system ﬁles from the Windows 2000 installation disk.

You will also need the AirConnect Installation CD supplied with your AirConnect wireless PC Card. Along with other utilities, the Installation CD installs the AirConnect Network Conﬁguration Properties Application in the Control Panel on your system. Use this application to view and edit AirConnect WLAN adapter settings.

If your site requires installation using diskettes, see “Disk Factory” on page 3. Where the driver installation procedure mentions the Installation CD and CD-ROM drive, use the diskettes and the ﬂoppy drive instead.

Installing the Drivers The following procedure is for installing drivers under Windows 95B (OSR 2),

Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Me.

1 Turn on your computer.

2 Put the Installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.

The setup program should start automatically. If it does not start, you can run it manually by selecting Run from the Start menu.

3 From the 3Com AirConnect WLAN Installer, select Install AirConnect WLAN

Adapter. Follow the instructions as they appear.

4 When prompted to insert the AirConnect PC Card, insert the card into the

notebook PC slot as described in “Installing the PC Card” on page 20.

The driver installation procedure will guide you through the steps standard for your operating system. You will be asked to supply a CD or directory path information for the Installation CD and your operating system software.

As part of the driver installation process, the setup program will install and open the Network application in the Control Panel.

5 Enter the name of the Wireless LAN Service Area of the wireless network to which

your computer will connect. The name you enter here must match exactly the name assigned to the access point. Characters, capitalization, and spacing must be identical.

6 Save the conﬁguration settings and exit by clicking OK.

7 Restart your computer.

Installing the Card Software

Installing the Card Software 6

1 When the system reboots, restart the setup program and install any other

components required.

3Com recommends that you install the wireless LAN applications so you can access the WLAN utilities described in Chapter 5.

2 Restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Installing the Documentation

Product Registration and Support

If you are reading this manual from the CD, you may want to install it on your hard disk using the following procedure:

1 Put the Installation CD in the CD-ROM drive. The Setup program will start

automatically.

If the Setup program does not start, use Start/Run to run the SETUP.EXE program from CD-ROM drive.

2 Select Documentation.

You can view the manuals from the CD.

3 To install the manuals on your hard disk, select Install User Documentation. Follow

the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

4 Exit the setup program.

You can open the manuals from the AirConnect program group.

To register this product with 3Com, go to the following Web page:

http://www.3com.com/productreg/index.html

For support information and pointers to the latest drivers and utilities available for the AirConnect wireless PC network interface card, go to the following Web page:

http://support.3com.com

Uninstalling the Card If the card installation is unsuccessful for any reason, your best course may be

to completely uninstall the AirConnect wireless PC Card and its software and repeat the installation procedure.

Previous installations or interrupted installation attempts sometimes leave problems that affect card operation. Possible problems include:

■ The card functions not working.

■ Windows 98 not detecting the card.

■ The system issuing a warning tone at startup.

You can remove the card and driver ﬁles using the procedures below.

7 CHAPTER 2: SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

Removing Card

Software

Removing the Card

Troubleshooting

Open Control Panel/System/Device Manager. Select the AirConnect WLAN NIC card components and click Remove.

Using the Device Manager to remove the card will uninstall the driver ﬁles.

CAUTION: Exit any networking applications before removing the card.

When removing the PC Card, use the release lever or button on your card slot to release the card. When pulling out the card, do not pull on the antenna. Refer to “Removing the PC Card” on page 21.

Symptom Solution

Weak signal or intermittent connection.

Windows does not recognize the adapter when installed.

Driver fails to load. A resource conflict could exist. Use the Device Manager to

Workstation cannot attach to the network.

Network drive mappings disappear when the notebook suspends or the adapter is removed then reinserted.

Nonfunctioning PC adapter LED. Verify that the Wireless LAN Service Area ID matches the

Try reorienting the antenna. The PC Card antenna is attached to the end of the card. For best use of the antenna:

■ Keep the area around the antenna clear from

materials that could block radio transmission, such as metal objects, electronic devices, and cordless telephones.

■ If your signal is weak, change the direction of the

antenna slightly.

■ If necessary, move your computer a few inches to find

a better signal. Depending on your environment, a difference of one or two inches can mean the difference between a strong and a weak signal. See “Status” on page 14 for details.

Use the Signal Strength display in the AirConnect Status application to determine the best location and orientation for a network connection. See “Connection” on page 15 for information on monitoring your AirConnect connection.

Verify that PCMCIA support is installed.

Check whether the computer has a Plug and Play BIOS.

Check whether an AirConnect adapter is already in use.

resolve resource conflicts. Select System from the Control Panel, then click on the Device Manager tab.

Verify that the adapter Wireless LAN Service Area ID matches the access point ID. See “Easy Setup” on page 13

Verify that the adapter Data Rate is configured properly for the access point.

Windows 98 will not restore NetWare network drive mappings under these conditions. Log out and log in again, or restart the machine to restore the connections.

access point ID.

+ 28 hidden pages