ASUS WL-169GE card manual

User Manual

Wireless Local Area Network Card

WL-169gE

(For 802.11g & 802.11b Wireless Networks)

®

E 2358/ Dec 2005

802 .11

g B road Ran ge

2 ASUS WLAN Card

No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it,
may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system,
or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except
documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the
express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).

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OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
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INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE), EVEN IF ASUS HAS
BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES ARISING
FROM ANY DEFECT OR ERROR IN THIS MANUAL OR PRODUCT.

Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired,
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intent to infringe.

SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL
ARE FURNISHED FOR INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY, AND ARE SUBJECT
TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND SHOULD NOT
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THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS MANUAL, INCLUDING THE PRODUCTS AND
SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN IT.

Copyright © 2005 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright Information

ASUS WLAN Card 3

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

Company address: 15 Li-Te Road, Beitou, Taipei 11259
General (tel): [phone]
Web site address: www.asus.com.tw
General (fax): [phone]
General email: [e-mail]

Technical support

General support (tel): [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com

ASUS COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL (America)

Company address: 44370 Nobel Drive, Fremont, CA 94538, USA
General (fax): [phone]
Web site address: usa.asus.com

Technical support

General support (tel): [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com
Notebook (tel): [phone] x5110
Support (fax): [phone]

ASUS COMPUTER GmbH (Germany & Austria)

Company address: Harkort Str. 25, D-40880 Ratingen, Germany
General (tel): [phone]
Web site address: www.asuscom.de
General (fax): [phone]
Online contact: www.asuscom.de/sales

Technical support

Component support: [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com
Notebook support: [phone]
Support (fax): [phone]

Contact Information

4 ASUS WLAN Card

1. Introduction ..............................................................................5

Overview ................................................................................................5

Package contents ..................................................................................6

Features .................................................................................................6

2. Installation ................................................................................7

System Requirements ...........................................................................7

Installation Procedures ..........................................................................7

Installing the WLAN utilities and driver .............................................7

Reading the WLAN Status Indicators ...............................................8

One Touch Wizard ............................................................................9

Configuring with the WLAN utility (Infrastructure) ..........................10

Configuring with the WLAN utility (Ad Hoc) ....................................11

3. Software Reference ................................................................12

ASUS WLAN Control Center ...............................................................12

Wireless Settings Utility .......................................................................14

Status - Status ................................................................................14

Status - Connection ........................................................................16

Status - IP Config ...........................................................................17

Status - Ping ...................................................................................17

Config - Basic .................................................................................18

Config - Advanced ..........................................................................19

Config - Encryption .........................................................................21

Config - Authentication ...................................................................24

Survey - Site Survey ......................................................................24

About - Version Info ........................................................................25

Link State .......................................................................................26

Exit Wireless Settings ....................................................................26

Windows® XP Wireless Options ...........................................................27

4. Troubleshooting .....................................................................29

5. Glossary ..................................................................................31

6. Appendix .................................................................................39

Table of Contents

ASUS WLAN Card 5

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Introduction

1. Introduction

Overview

Thank you for purchasing the ASUS WLAN Card!

The ASUS WLAN Card is an easy-to-install and use wireless LAN adapter and
is designed to be fully compliant with both the IEEE 802.11g and IEE802.11b
wireless local area network (Wireless LAN) standards. As a result of the
completion of the standard, the interoperability of Wireless LAN products
among multiple manufacturers will be guaranteed. The ASUS WLAN Card
product provides high-speed, standards-based Wireless LAN solutions.

The ASUS WLAN Card is designed to be fully compliant with IEEE 802.11g
wireless local area networks (WLAN). 802.11g is an extension to 802.11b, used
in majority of wireless LANs today. 802.11g will broaden 802.11b's data rates to
54 Mbps within the 2.4 GHz band using OFDM (orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing) technology. 802.11g allows backward compatibility with 802.11b
devices but only at 11 Mbps or lower depending on the range and presence of
obstructions.

The ASUS WLAN Card supports data rates up to 11 Mbps, with automatic
fallback to 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps in 802.11b networks. It operates in the unlicensed

2.4 GHz frequencies called the Instrumentation, Science, and Medical (ISM)
band. Unlicensed means free of charge to users.

The ASUS WLAN Card configuration utility is a user-friendly application that
helps you quickly setup multiple roaming nodes using the ASUS WLAN Card.
You can even export the configuration settings to a file and import them to other
computers for fast multiple installations using ASUS Mobile Manager. Wireless
LANs are complementary extensions to existing wired LANs, offering complete
mobility while maintaining continuous network connectivity to both corporate
and home Intranets. They add a new level of convenience for LAN users. PC
users stay connected to the network anywhere throughout a building without
being bound by a LAN wires. This is accomplished through the use of ASUS
WLAN Access Points or ASUS WLAN Home Gateways. ASUS WLAN Home
Gateways with built-in Internet gateway capability, allows your family to share a
broadband Modem and one ISP account simultaneously from different rooms
without wires! ASUS WLAN products can keep you connected anywhere, any
time.

6 ASUS WLAN Card

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Package contents

Check the following items in your ASUS USB Wireless LAN Adapter
package. Contact your retailer if any item is damaged or missing.

ASUS USB Wireless LAN Adapter (WL-169gE)

USB 2.0 extension cable (type A to type A)

Neck lace

Support CD

Quick Start Guide

USB 2.0 Extension cable

Neck lace

Neck strap quick release

USB Wireless LAN adapter
(with USB cap)

Features

USB 2.0, USB bus-powered, OFDM, DSSS
Supports Infrastructure and Ad-hoc networks
Compatible with IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g devices

ASUS WLAN Card 7

Chapter 2 - Installation

Chapter 2

Installation

2. Installation

System Requirements

To begin using the WLAN Card, you must have the following minimum
requirements:

• Windows XP/2000/ME/98SE

• USB 1.1 or 2.0 port

• 32MB system memory or larger

• 300MHz processor or higher

Important: Install the WLAN card utilities before inserting the WLAN Card into
your computer.

Installing the WLAN utilities and driver

Follow these instructions to install the WLAN card utilities and driver. Insert the
support CD into your optical drive. If autorun is enabled in your computer, the
CD automatically displays the utility menu. Click

Install ASUS WLAN Card

Utilities/Driver

. If autorun is disabled, double-click SETUP.EXE in the root

directory of the CD.

2. Click

Next

on the Welcome screen.1. Select y ou r lan gu ag e and click I nstall

WLAN Card Utilities/Driver.

3. Click

Next

to use the default Destination

Folder or click Browse to select another folder.

4. Click

Next

to creat short cut.

Chapter 2

8 ASUS WLAN Card

Chapter 2 - Installation

Installation

7. Carefully insert the WLAN card into your
computerʼs USB2.0 port. Windows will
automatically detect and configure the
WLAN card using the utilities and drivers
installed in the previous steps.

8. Windows XP users: When the program
is laun c h ed f o r the firs t tim e (du r ing
Windows re s t a r t ) , y o u a r e as k e d t o
choose one utility to configure the WLAN
Card. Select "Only use our WLAN utilities
and disable Windows wireless function".

Reading the WLAN status indicators

The device comes with a LED that inidicates the status of the WLAN Card.

Blinking:

Searching for or connected to an AP.

OFF:

No wireless connection.

LED

5. The installation process takes several
seconds.

6. When Setup is complete, click

Finish

to
exit the installation wizard and restart the
computer.

ASUS WLAN Card 9

Chapter 2 - Installation

Chapter 2

Installation

One Touch Wizard

Use the One Touch Wizard to setup your wireless connection with an existing
wireless LAN.

1. Launch One Touch W iz ar d from S ta rt
me n u and cl i c k

Ne x t

to s e t up yo u r

wireless network.

2. Select an AP from the

Available Networks

field, then click

Next

.

3. Connection is complete. Click

Next

to

setup the IP address for the WLAN card.

4. C h o ose t o obt a i n an I P ad d ress o r to
assign static address manually for your
WLAN card. When IP setting is complete,
click

Finish

to exit the One Touch Wizard.

Note: If the access point you want to connect has set up encryption policies,
you must configure the same encryption on your WLAN Card. Select
"Configure your wireless LAN settings" radio button in step 2 and make the
settings accordingly. When the encryption settings are complete, you can
launch the One Touch Wizard once again from the Start menu to set up the
connection with your AP.

Chapter 2

10 ASUS WLAN Card

Chapter 2 - Installation

Installation

Configuring with the WLAN utility (Infrastructure)

Use ASUS WLAN utlity to get connected with an existing wireless network.

6. C heck the

Conn ectio n

tab to s ee the

signal strength. Click

OK

to exit the utility.

5. C hec k the

St a t u s

pag e to se e th e
as s o c ia t i o n st a te. If co n n ect i o n is
established, the box shows “Connected ­xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx”.

3. Use

Site Survey

if you donʼt know the

SSID of your access point(s).

4. Enc ryption settings m us t match t ho se
at the acc ess point. Ask your network
administrator about settings if necessary.
Click

Apply

to activate your settings.

1. Right-click the wireless connection icon
and select

Wireless Settings.

2. Chcek the

Config

page to set the

SSID

(network name) to that of your wireless AP.

ASUS WLAN Card 11

Chapter 2 - Installation

Chapter 2

Installation

Configuring with the WLAN utility (Ad Hoc)

The WLAN card supports Ad Hoc mode which allows communication between
wireless stations without an AP.

2. Click the

Config

button to set the WLAN

Card to

Ad Hoc

connection mode, Set the

SSID

to that of the target Ad Hoc node,

then select a

Channel

on which the Ad Hoc

nodes are to communicate.

3. Click the

Survey

button to scan for the Ad
Hoc nodes. Select the node you want to
communicate with and press

Connect

.

4. If the encryption settings of your WLAN
Card are different from those of the other
Ad Hoc nodes, you are prompted to make
the encryption of the two nodes identical.
Click

Apply

to activate the settings.

1. Right-click the wireless connection icon
and select

Wireless Settings.

5. Check the

Status

page to see the association
state. If connection is established, the box
shows “Connected - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx”.

6. Check the

Connection

tab to see the

signal strength. Click

OK

to exit the utility.

12 ASUS WLAN Card

Chapter 3 - Software Reference

Chapter 3

Software Reference

3. Software Reference

Using the Control Center

The Control Center taskbar icon displays the following information:

• Link quality of the WLAN Card (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Not Linked)

• Whether the WLAN Card is connected to a network (Blue: Connected, Gray:
Not Connected)

Taskbar Icon and Status

Wireless Status Icons (on the taskbar)

Excellent

link quality and

connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Good

link quality and

connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Fair

link quality and

connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Poor

link quality and

connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Not linked

but

connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Excellent

link quality but

not connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Good

link quality but

not connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Fair

link quality but

not connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Poor

link quality but

not connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

Not linked

and

not connected to Internet

(Infrastructure)

ASUS WLAN Control Center

ASUS WLAN Control Center is an application which makes it easier to launch
WLAN applications and activate network location settings. The WLAN Control
Center starts automatically when system boots. When WLAN Control Center is
running, you can see a Control Center icon on the Windows taskbar.

Starting the Control Center

• Select

ASUS WLAN Control Center

in Windows Start

menu, or

• Double-click the

ASUS WLAN Control Center

icon on the desktop.