Belkin F5D8001 User Manual

N1 Wireless Desktop Card

Belkin Tech Support

US: 877-736-5771

310-898-1100 ext. 2263 Europe: 00 800 223 55 460 Australia: 1800 235 546 New Zealand: 0800 235 546 Singapore: 800 616 1790

Belkin Corporation

501 West Walnut Street Los Angeles, CA 90220-5221, USA 310-898-1100 310-898-1111 fax

Belkin Ltd.

Express Business Park, Shipton Way Rushden, NN10 6GL, United Kingdom +44 (0) 1933 35 2000 +44 (0) 1933 31 2000 fax

Belkin Ltd.

7 Bowen Crescent, West Gosford NSW 2250, Australia +61 (0) 2 4372 8600 +61 (0) 2 4372 8603 fax

Belkin B.V.

Boeing Avenue 333 1119 PH Schiphol-Rijk, The Netherlands +31 (0) 20 654 7300 +31 (0) 20 654 7349 fax

P75175

N1 Wireless Desktop Card

User Manual

F5D8001

Table of Contents

1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Benefits of a Home Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Advantages of a Wireless Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Placement of your Wireless Networking Hardware for

Optimal Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Overview

3 Installing and Setting up the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 Using the Belkin Wireless Networking Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6 Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Product Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Applications and Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Product Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Package Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 1: Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 2: Insert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Step 3: Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 4: Configure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Accessing the Belkin Wireless Networking Utility

from the Windows System Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Network Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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

Network Status and Solution Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Setting Wireless Network Profiles

Securing your Wi-Fi Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Configuring your Card to use Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

30 38

Introduction

Thank you fo r purchasing th e Belkin N1 Wi re less Deskt op Card. Now you can ta ke advanta ge of this great new t ec hnolo gy and gain the fre edom to net work your h om e and office com puters wirel es sly. T his Card allows yo u t o c onnec t a de sktop comp uter to you r n etwork. Please be su re to read th ro ugh this User Ma nual com pletely, and pay speci al atten ti on to the sect ion enti tl ed “Plac ement of your Wireless Ne tworkin g H ardw are f or Optim al Perform ance”.

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Benefi ts of a Home Netw ork

Your B elkin Ho me Network wi ll allow yo u t o:

• Share one high- speed Inte rne t c onnecti on with all th e c omputer s in your ho me

• Share res ources, such as fi les, and ha rd dr ives among al l the conne cted com pu ters in you r h ome

• Share a single p ri nter wit h t he entire famil y

• Share docume nts, music , v ideo, an d d igital pic tures

• Store, re triev e, and copy file s f ro m o ne compu te r to anothe r

• Simulta neously pl ay games on line, chec k I nternet email , a nd chat

Advant ages of a Wirele ss Ne twork

Here are some of the advantages of setting up a Belkin wireless network:

• M obili ty – y ou no longer n ee d a dedicat ed “comput er

roo m”—yo u c an work on a netw orked lapt op or deskt op comput er anywhere wit hin your wi rele ss range

• Easy inst allatio n – Belkin Eas y I nstalla tion Wiz ards ma ke

setup sim ple

• Flexib ility – set up an d a ccess pr in ters, co mputers , a nd

other net working de vices from an yw here in your hom e

• Easy expa nsion – the wi de range of Be lk in netwo rking produc ts

lets you e xp and your ne twork to in cl ude devi ces such as prin ters and gamin g c onsol es

• No cablin g req uire d – you can spa re the e xp ense and ha ssle

of retro fitting Et her net cablin g t hroughout th e h ome or office

• Widesp re ad industr y a cceptan ce – c hoose from a wid e r ange

of interope rable netw orking produ cts

Introduction

Placement of your Wireless Networking Hardware for Optimal Performance

Your w ireless conn ection wil l b e stronger th e c loser your co mputer is to your wi rele ss ro uter (or ac ce ss point ). Typi cal indoor op erati ng range for yo ur wireless d ev ices is bet ween 100 an d 2 00 feet. In th e same way, your wireles s c onnec ti on and perf ormance wi ll degra de somewh at as the dist ance betwe en your wireles s rou ter (or acces s point) an d c onnec te d device s i ncre ases. Th is may or may not be notice able to you . A s y ou move far th er from your wireles s rou ter (or acces s p oint) , c onnecti on speed may d ec re ase. Facto rs that can weaken si gnals si mp ly by getti ng in the way of you r n etwork’s radi o waves are meta l a pplianc es or obstr uctions , a nd walls.

If you hav e c oncer ns about yo ur network ’s perfo rmance t ha t might be rel ated to ran ge or obstr uc tion fac tors, try mov ing the com puter to a positi on between fi ve and 10 feet from th e w ireless router (o r a ccess point) in orde r t o s ee if dista nce is the problem . I f difficulti es persi st even at cl os e range, pl ease conta ct Belki n Techn ical Suppo rt.

Note: W hile some o f t he items list ed below ca n a ff ec t networ k

perfor mance, the y w ill not prohi bi t your wirele ss network from functi oning; if y ou are c on cer ned that yo ur network is no t o peratin g at its max im um effective ness, th is checkli st may help.

1. Placement of your Wireless Router (or Access Point)

Place you r w ireless router (o r a ccess po in t), the cen tral conne ction point of y ou r networ k, as close as po ssible to the ce nter of you r wireless ne twork devi ces.

To ach ieve the be st wire less net work cover age for you r “ wire less client s,” (i.e. c om puter s e nabled by Bel kin Wireless No tebook C ards , Wireless De sktop Cards, an d W irel ess USB Ada pters):

• Ensure that yo ur wireless route r’s (or acc ess poin t’s) ant ennas are paralle l t o e ach othe r, an d a re po sitio ne d vertic ally (towa rd the ceili ng). If you r w irel ess router (o r a ccess poin t) itself i s positi oned verti cally, p oint the an tennas as m uc h as possib le in an upwa rd direct ion.

• In multistory homes, place the wireless router (or access point) on a floor that is as close to the center of the home as possible. This may mean placing the wireless router (or access point) on an upper floor.

• Try not to plac e t he wireless route r ( or acces s p oint) near a cordless 2. 4GHz phone .

Introduction

2. Avoid Obstacles and Interference

Avo id placi ng your wireles s rou te r (or acces s p oint) ne ar devices th at may emit r ad io “nois e”, such as mi crow ave ovens. Ot her obje cts that can inhib it wireless com municat ion can inc lude:

• Refrig erators

• Washe rs and/or d ry ers

• Metal cab inets

• Large aquariu ms

• Metall ic-base d, UV-tinte d w indows

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If your wi rele ss signal s ee ms weak in som e s pots, ma ke sure that object s s uch as thes e a re no t b locking th e s ignal ’s path bet ween your comp uters an d w irel ess router (or a cc ess poin t).

3. Cordless Phone Placement

If the perfo rmance o f y ou r wireless ne tw ork is impa ired af ter atte nding to the abo ve issues, an d y ou have a cordle ss phone:

• Try movin g c ordless phon es away from the wi rele ss ro uter (or acces s p oint) an d y our wireless -enable d c omputer s.

• Unplug an d rem ove the bat te ry from any cordless ph one that oper ates on the 2. 4GHz band ( ch eck manu facturer’s inform ation). If th is fixes th e p ro blem, your ph one may be interf ering.

• If your ph on e suppor ts channel se lection , c hange th e channe l o n t he phone to th e f arthe st channel from yo ur wireless ne twork as poss ible. Fo r e xample, ch ange the phone to c ha nnel 1 and mov e y our wireless rout er (or access po int) to cha nnel 11. (Your cha nn el selec tion will vary depe nding on yo ur re gi on.) See yo ur phone’s user manual fo r d etail ed instruc tions.

• If necess ary, c on sider sw itching to a 9 00 MHz or 5GHz cordle ss phone.

Overview

Introduction

4. Choose the “Quietest” Channel for your Wireless Network

In locations where homes or offices are close together, such as apartment buildings or office complexes, there may be wireless networks nearby that can conflict with yours. Use the Site Survey capabilities of your Belkin Wireless Networking Utility to locate any other wireless networks, and move your wireless router (or access point) and computers to a channel as far away from other networks as possible.

Experi ment with m ore tha n o ne of the avai lable ch an nels in order to find the c le arest connec tion and av oid interf eren ce from neigh bo ring cordless ph ones or other wi re less devic es.

For more Belki n w ireless netw orking produ cts, use the d et ailed Si te Survey an d w ireless chan nel info rm ation in cluded in you r User Manu al.

5. Secure Connections, VPNs, and AOL

Secure conn ections ty pically requ ire a us er name and pa ss word, and are used where secu rity is impor tant. Se cu re co nnectio ns inclu de :

• Vir tual Pri vate Netwo rk (VPN) co nn ectio ns , often use d t o c onnec t rem otely to an offi ce network

• The “Brin g You r O wn Access” prog ram from Americ a O nline (AOL ), which let s y ou use AOL throu gh broa dband provid ed by anoth er cable or D SL service

• Most onli ne banki ng website s

• Many comm ercial websi tes that require a user na me and passwo rd to ac cess your a cc ount

Secure conn ections ca n b e i nterr up ted by a compu ter’s po wer manage ment setti ng, whic h c auses it to “g o t o s leep.” The si mplest soluti on to avoid th is is to simpl y recon nect by re-runn ing the VPN or AOL sof tw are, or by re -loggin g i nto the sec ure w ebsite.

A second alternative is to change your computer’s power management settings so it does not go to sleep; however, this may not be appropriate for portable computers. To change your power management setting in Windows, see the “Power Options” item in the Control Panel.

If you con ti nue to have di ff iculty wit h S ecure Connec tions, VPN s, and AOL, plea se re view steps 1– 4 in the previou s p ages to be sure you have addres sed these iss ues.

The se guide lines should a llow you to cover t he maximum pos sible area wit h your wireless router. Should you need to cover an even wi der area, we suggest the Belkin Wireless Rang e Extend er/Access Point.

For more information regarding our networking products, visit our website at www.belkin.com/networking or call Belkin Technical Support.

Overview

Product Features

The Card compl ies with th e I EEE draft- 802.11n sp ecifica tion to commun icate with ot her draf t-802.1 1n-comp liant wirele ss devices at speeds of up to 300Mbps *. The Card is also co mpatibl e w ith 802.11 g device s a t 5 4Mbps as we ll as 802.1 1b prod ucts at 11M bps. The Card operat es on the same 2. 4GHz frequen cy band as 802 .1 1b/g

Wi-Fi

p ro ducts.

• 2.4GHz ISM (Industrial, Science, and Medical) band operation

• Integrated easy-to-use Belkin Wireless Networking Utility

• PCI interface, for operation in virtually any desktop computer

• WPA, WPA2, 64-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), or 128-bit encryption

• Wireless access to networked resources

• Data rate of up to 300Mbps* (draft 802.11n), 54Mbps (802.11g), or 11Mbps (802.11b)

• Easy installation and use

• LED power and activity indicators

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Overview

Applications and Advantages

• Connec tion rates of up to 300Mbps * Pro vides im mediate hi gh-spee d w ireless conn ectivit y a t h ome, work, and ho tspot lo cations wi thout comp ro mising the us e o f existi ng 802.11b /g products

• Compat ibility wi th 802.1 1b /g product s The Card is backw ard-compa tible with ex isting W i- Fi (IEEE 802 .11b/g) prod ucts

• Difficul t- to-wi re en vi ro nments Enable s n etworki ng in build ings with sol id or finis hed walls, or open areas whe re wi ring is difficu lt to insta ll

• Fre quent ly changin g e nvironmen ts Adapts ea sily in offices or environment s t hat frequent ly re arrange or change lo catio ns

• SOHO (Sma ll Office/Ho me Office) netw orking n ee ds Provides the easy and quick, small network installation SOHO users need

Product Specifications

Host Inte rface: 32-bit PC I

Power Con sumptio n:

802.11 b: TX 920mA @ 3. 3V, RX 400mA @ 3.3 V

802.11 g: TX 10 00mA @ 3.3V, RX 40 0mA @ 3.3V

802.11 n: 20MHz oper ation, TX 100 0mA @ 3.3V,

4 0MHz ope ra tion, TX 10 70mA @ 3.3V,

Operat ing Temperature: 32—13 1 d egrees F (0—55 d eg re es C)

Storag e Tempe rature: -4—176 de grees F (-20—80 de grees C)

Humidi ty: Ma x. 90% (non -c onden si ng)

Typical Opera ting Ran ge : U p t o 1 ,400 ft. (4 26.7m)* *

NOT E: T he s ta nda rd t ransm is sion rate– 30 0Mbps –i s th e ph ysi ca l da ta r ate. Act ua l da ta t hro ug hpu t wi ll b e lo we r.

**Wirel ess per fo rm anc e may var y de pe nding o n the net wo rk ing env ironm en t.

RX 400mA @ 3. 3V

RX 500mA @ 3. 3V

Overview

(a)

(c)

(b)

(a) Power/Activity LED

Lights up wh en the Card is powe re d o n; flashes wh en wireless activi ty is detec te d

(b) Card Connector

Part of th e C ard t ha t fits into yo ur compu te r’s PC I s lot

Lets you c on nect to the ca ble from the ext er nal an tenna

System Requirements

• P C-compa tible de sk top comp uter conta ining: one avail able 32- bi t PCI slot

• 128MB RAM or grea ter

• 500MHz proc essor or greate r

• Window s

2 000 or XP

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Package Contents

• N1 Wireless De sktop Card

• External Ant enna with Cab le

• Quick Ins tallati on Guide

• Instal lation Sof tware CD

• User Manu al

Installing and Setting up the Card

Step 1 Install

IMPORTANT

: Install the software before inserting the Card.

1.1 Insert the Installation Software CD into your CD-ROM drive.

1.2 1.2 The Belkin Wireless Card Installer screen will automatically appear.

(This may take 15–20 seconds.) Click “Install Software” or “Next” to start the installation.

Note: If the Belkin Wireless Card Installer screen does not appear within 20

seconds, access your CD-ROM by double-clicking on the “My Computer” icon; then double-click on the CD-ROM drive into which the installation CD has been placed. Double-click on the icon named “Setup.exe”.

1.3 The InstallShield Wizard will now

start. Click “Next” to continue.

Installing and Setting up the Card

1.4 Choose a destination folder in

which to install the software, or simply click “Next”.

1.5 The first in a series of

progress-monitoring screens will let you know where you are in the setup process.

1.6 You might see a screen similar to

this one. This DOES NOT mean there is a problem. Our software has been fully tested and is compatible with this operating system. Select “Continue Anyway” and follow the on-screen instructions.

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+ 32 hidden pages