3Com WL305 User Guide

Wireless LAN PC Car d, PCI

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

Card and USB User Guide

Model WL-305 Model WL-307 Model WL-308

Published May 2000

3Com Corporation ■

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

5400 Bayfront Plaza ■ Santa Clara, California 95052-8145

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.

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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.

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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 standar d commercial license for the Softwar e. 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, the 3Com logo, and Wireless LAN are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Novell

and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are

associated.

EXPORT RESTRICTIONS:

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

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

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

CONTENTS

EFORE YOU BEGIN

Introduction 5 Features 5 Installation Overview 6 Disk Factory 6

OFTWARE INSTALLATION

Introduction 9 Before Installing the Drivers 9 Installing the Drivers 9 Installing the Card Software 10 Installing the Documentation 10 Product Registration and Support 10 Uninstalling the Card 11

Removing Card Software 11 Removing the Card 11

Troubleshooting 12

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 18

NSTALLING

Installing the PC Card 19 Wireless LAN Adapter LEDs 20 Removing the PC Card 21

NSTALLING

Installing the PCI Card 23 Connecting the Antenna 24 Wireless LAN PCI Card LEDs 24

THE

OOLS

PC C

PCI C

AND

ARD

TILITIES

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

Removing the PCI Card 24

NSTALLING

Installing the USB Device 25 USB Device LED 25

ECHNICAL

Online Technical Services 27

World Wide Web Site 27 3Com FTP Site 27 3Com Bulletin Board Service 28

3Com Facts Automated Fax Service 28 Support from Your Network Supplier 28 Support from 3Com 29 Returning Products for Repair 30

ARRANTY

3Com Corporation Limited Warranty 31 Regulatory Compliance Information 33 3Com End User Software License Agreement 34

THE

UPPORT

AND

USB D

EGULATORY

EVICE

OMPLIANCE

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

EFORE

EGIN

Introduction

Features

The Wireless LAN network offers performance comparable to Ethernet networks, but without the restraints of network cables. The Wireless LAN product family includes the model WL-305 PC Card, the WL-307 USB Device, and the WL-308 PCI Card described in this manual.

Wireless LAN adapters use IEEE 802.11HR 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. Wireless LAN product-family features include:

Bridging architecture allows communication between wired network devices

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and mobile devices. Compliance with IEEE 802.11 HR speciﬁcation. This open architecture allows

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Wireless LAN devices to communicate with wireless devices from other manufacturers.

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

Wireless LAN PC and PCI Card operating features include:

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

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Support for Wndows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95B, and Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 3.0 or greater).

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Plug and Play support.

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

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Wireless LAN adapters 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:

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

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wireless client The ratio of packets transmitted to transmissions attempted falling below a

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preset threshold The wireless client ﬁnding and switching to another Access Point with a higher

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transmit rate

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

HAPTER

1: B

EFORE

Installation Overview

EGIN

Roaming means the Wireless LAN NIC Card will maintain your network connection as you roam between Access Points in the same subnet. You can also roam acr oss 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.

The wireless LAN NIC cards support

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 Wireless LAN network PC or PCI card involves these tasks:

Disk Factory

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Running the Setup program from the End User Utilities CD . See “Installing the

Drivers” on page 9.

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Installing the card in a PC Card slot on your computer. Do not install the card

until instructed to do so by the setup software. The procedure for installing the

PC card is described in “Installing the PC Card” on page 19. The procedure for

installing the PCI card is described in “Installing the PCI Card” on page 23.

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Installing the software, including the drivers for the card and the Wireless LAN

software utilities. See “Installing the Card Software” on page 10.

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 10.

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The card installation procedure covers basic conﬁguration. For advanced

conﬁguration options, or to explore the utilities available for managing and

conﬁguring the card, see “Software Tools and Utilities” on page 13.

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

End User Utilities 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:

Wireless LAN Application Disk 1

Wireless LAN Application Disk 2

Wireless LAN Application Disk 3

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

Disk Factory 7

Put the End User Utilities CD in the CD-ROM drive. The SETUP program should start automatically. If it does not start, you can run it manually by selecting from the Start menu.

Select Create Diskettes . In the Disk Factory window, click Next . Select the software you want to transfer to diskette. If you select All , you will need

four ﬂoppy diskettes. Select the action, for example, Create and Verify Disks , and click Next . When you are ready to install the application software fr om diskette, put Wireless

LAN Application Disk 1

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.

in the ﬂoppy drive and run SETUP .

Run

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

OFTWARE

NSTALLATION

Introduction

Before Installing the Drivers

Use the procedures described in this chapter to install the Wireless LAN NIC Card software and drivers under Windows 2000, Windows 98, and Windows 95.

Windows 95 users should note that the Wireless LAN NIC card runs under Windows 95 version B or higher . If you do not know which version of Windows 95 is installed on your computer, follow these steps:

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

Click the General Tab to display the Windows 95 version information. Version B (also known as OSR 2) is identiﬁed as 4.00.950b.

Windows NT 4.0 users should refer to the driver installation instructions described later in this book.

For drivers for other operating systems, refer to the 3Com customer support Web site at http://support.3com.com

Before installing the 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.

Installing the Drivers

You will also need the Wireless LAN Wireless LAN NIC card. Along with other utilities, the the Wireless LAN Panel on your system. Use this application to view and edit Wireless LAN WLAN adapter settings.

If your site requires installation using diskettes, see “Disk Factory” on page 6. Where the driver installation procedure mentions the and CD-ROM drive, use the diskettes and the ﬂoppy drive instead.

Turn on your computer. Put the End User Utilities CD in the CD-ROM drive. The setup program should start automatically. If it does not start, you can run it

manually by selecting From the 3Com Wireless LAN WLAN Installer, select Install Wireless LAN WLAN

Adapter

. Follow the instructions as they appear.

Network Conﬁguration Properties Application in the Control

Run from the Start menu.

End User Utilities CD supplied with your

End User Utilities CD installs

End User Utilities CD and

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HAPTER

2: S

OFTWARE INSTALLATION

When prompted to insert the Wireless LAN PC card, insert the card into the notebook or laptop PC slot as described in “Installing the PC Card” on page 19. The PCI card installation into a desktop PC is described in “Installing the PCI Card” on page 23.

The driver installation procedure will guide you through the steps standard for your operating system. If you are unfamiliar with driver installation procedures, refer to the be asked to supply CDs or directory path information for the

Wireless LAN Network Interface Card User Guide

for details. You will

End User Utilities 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.

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.

Save the conﬁguration settings and exit by clicking OK.

Restart your computer.

Installing the Card Software

Installing the Documentation

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 utilities described in the Wireless LAN Network Interface Card User Guide.

Restart your computer for changes to take effect.

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

Put the

End User Utilities

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.

Select

Documentation

You can view the manuals from the CD.

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 Wireless LAN program group.

Product Registration

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

and Support

http://www For support information and pointers to the latest drivers and utilities available for

the Wireless LAN network interface card, go to the following Web page: http://support.3com.com

.3com.com/productreg/index.html

Uninstalling the Card 11

software before removing the card.

Exhibit 8: User's Manual

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

completely uninstall the Wireless LAN 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.

Removing Card

Software

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

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

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.

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 PCI Card” on page 24.

CAUTION:

Exit any networking applications and disable PC Card in the

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