Askey Computer WLH0020 User Manual

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card

User’s Manual

 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of the seller.

Disclaimer

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The material contained herein is supplied without representation or warranty of any kind. The seller therefore assumes no responsibility and shall have no liability of any kind arising from the supply or use of this document or the material contained herein.

Trademarks

Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Rev: 01 April 2003

Contents

About This Manual....................................................................................................................................................... III

Chapter 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1

Wireless LAN Basics................................................................................................................................................... 2

Local Area Network (LAN)........................................................................................................................................................ 2

Ad-Hoc Mode ............................................................................................................................................................................2

Infrastructure Mode ..................................................................................................................................................................3

Roaming .................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card ............................................................................................................ 5

System Requirements................................................................................................................................................. 6

Installing Wireless LAN Driver and Software .............................................................................................................. 7

Part 1: Installing Driver ...........................................................................................................................................................7

Part 2: Installing Software ........................................................................................................................................................9

Chapter 3 Using Wireless LAN Utility .................................................................................................................... 11

Accessing Vendor’s Wireless LAN Utility.................................................................................................................. 12

Notice When Assessing Wireless LAN Utility under Windows XP ..........................................................................................14

Configuration............................................................................................................................................................. 15

Available Wireless Networks................................................................................................................................................... 15

Available Profiles....................................................................................................................................................................17

WEP Settings...........................................................................................................................................................................17

Advanced Configuration............................................................................................................................................ 19

Status ........................................................................................................................................................................ 20

Statistics .................................................................................................................................................................... 20

About ......................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 5 Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility ............................................................................... 23

Connecting to an Access Point or Wireless LAN Card ............................................................................................. 23

Viewing Wireless Connection Status ........................................................................................................................ 25

Configuring Your Wireless Properties....................................................................................................................... 26

Chapter 6 Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card ..................................................................................................... 31

Uninstalling the Wireless LAN Card Software........................................................................................................... 31

Removing the Wireless LAN Card (For CardBus Adapter)....................................................................................... 34

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Chapter 7 Troubleshooting ..................................................................................................................................... 35

Appendix A Limited Warranty................................................................................................................................. 37

Wireless LAN Hardware............................................................................................................................................ 37

Wireless LAN Software ............................................................................................................................................. 38

Appendix B Setting Up TCP/IP................................................................................................................................39

For Windows 98/ME.................................................................................................................................................. 39

For Windows 2000/XP .............................................................................................................................................. 41

Glossary....................................................................................................................................................................... 43

About This Manual

This manual was written for the following type of wireless adapter:

For brevity, throughout this manual Wireless LAN Card is used to indicate all the types. Also, the following terms/abbreviations are used interchangeably:

This User’s Manual contains information on how to install and configure your Wireless LAN Card. From now on, we will guide you through the correct configuration steps to get your device up and run.

Contents

• 32-bit CardBus Adapter

• Access Point – AP

• Peer-to-Peer – Ad Hoc

• Wireless LAN – WLAN

• Ethernet network – LAN – network

III

Chapter 1 Introduction

This Wireless LAN Card is an IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN PCMCIA/USB adapter. It allows your computer to connect to a wireless network and to share resources, such as files or printers without being bound to the network wires. Operating in 2.4GHz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) radio transmission, the Wireless LAN Card transfers data at speeds up to 11Mbps. Both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure mode are supported. For network security concern, 64/128-bit Wired Equivalent Protection (WEP) algorithm is used. In addition, its standard compliance ensures that it can communicate with any 802.11b networks.

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Wireless LAN Basics

This section contains some Wireless LAN basics to help you better understand how the product work together to create a wireless network.

Local Area Network (LAN)

Simply put, a LAN is a network that exists in a relatively limited area. A network is two or more computers connected together sharing files and peripheral devices such as printers.

The Wireless LAN Card allows you to interact with other computers without having to run cables normally associated with networks. This lets you move your computer around while staying connected to your network.

There are two ways to use the Wireless LAN Card. One way is to connect directly to one or more Wireless LAN Card equipped computers, forming an Ad-Hoc wireless network. The second way is to connect to an Access Point that gives you access to an existing wired LAN, forming an Infrastructure wireless network.

Ad-Hoc Mode

The Ad-Hoc Group offers peer-to-peer connections between workstations, allowing communication between computers within range that have a Wireless LAN Card installed. A wireless Ad-Hoc network can also access a wired LAN’s TCP/IP service (such as e-mail and the Internet) by using a TCP/IP software router on an Ethernet equipped PowerBook or notebook.

Figure 1-1 Ad-Hoc Mode

Chapter 1 Introduction

Infrastructure Mode

The Infrastructure network uses an AP or several APs as a gateway, linking the wireless network to a wired LAN. As a result, portable workstations or desktops on your wireless network have access to all of the features of your wired LAN including e-mail, Internet access, network printers and file server.

Figure 1-2 Infrastructure Mode

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

Roaming

Multiple Access Points can be installed to extend the wireless service coverage area for seamless wireless access. Within an extended service area, all Access Points and wireless clients must have the same Service Set Identity (SSID). Roaming among different Access Points is controlled automatically to maintain the wireless connectivity at all times.

Figure 1-3 Roaming Across Multiple Access Points

Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card

This chapter describes the installation process of the driver and software for the Wireless LAN Card. Proper driver installation is to allow the device to operate on your host computer while the utility software, Wireless LAN Utility, is to help you configure and monitor your Wireless LAN Card.

In case you need to install the driver and software for any reason, follow the instructions described in this chapter.

Note: The installation procedures are basically the same in Windows operating system. The following description uses Windows XP as the example environment.

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

System Requirements

To use the Wireless LAN Card, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Pentium-class PC, 300MHz or better recommended

64 MB of RAM, additional memory recommended

Hard disk space at least 30 Mbytes

Windows 98(SE)/Me/2000/XP

UL listed I.T.E. computers

For CardBus wireless adapter: 32-bit Cardbus expansion slot

Installing Wireless LAN Driver and Software

Part 1: Installing Driver

Follow these steps to install the Wireless LAN Card driver and software.

1. Close all Windows programs that are running and insert the provided Software Utility CD into your CD-ROM drive

2. Insert your wireless adapter into the PCMCIA slot of your computer. The Windows Plug-and-Play feature will detect the new device.

3. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advance) and click Next.

Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

4. With Include this location … selected, click Browse to locate the driver from D:\Utility&Driver of the Software Utility CD where D is the drive

5. If Windows logo compatibility message appears, click Continue Anyway to proceed with the installation.

letter.

6. Click Finish.

Chapter 2 Installing the Wireless LAN Card

Part 2: Installing Software

1. Run Setup.exe from D:\Utility&Driver folder of the Software Utility CD where D is the drive letter. When the welcome screen pops up, click Next.

11Mbps Wireless LAN Card User's Manual

2. When the License Agreement screen appears, click Yes.

3. Click Finish when the following screen appears.

Note: If you need to set up the TCP/IP address or the subnet mask, refer to “Appendix B Setting Up TCP/IP” for details.

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