Digitus DN-7046-1 operation manual

Wireless 150N PCI Adapter

Manual

(DN-7046-1)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright ©2009/2010 by this company. All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval

system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or

by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of this company.

This company makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or

implied, with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any

warranties, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Any software

described in this manual is sold or licensed "as is". Should the programs prove

defective following their purchase, the buyer (and not this company, its

distributor, or its dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing,

repair, and any incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect

in the software. Further, this company reserves the right to revise this

publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents thereof

without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes.

Federal Communication Commission

Interference Statement

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class

B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. These limits are designed

to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential

installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency

energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may

cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no

guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this

equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception,

which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is

encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following

measures:

1. Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

2. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

3. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to
which the receiver is connected.

4. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio technician for help.

FCC Caution

This device and its antenna must not be co-located or operating in conjunction

with any other antenna or transmitter.

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the

following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference,

and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including

interference that may cause undesired operation.

Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible

for compliance could void the authority to operate equipment.

Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radiation Exposure
Statement

This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure set forth for an

uncontrolled environment. In order to avoid the possibility of exceeding the

FCC radio frequency exposure limits, human proximity to the antenna shall not

be less than 20cm (8 inches) during normal operation.

The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must not be co-located or operating in

conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.

The equipment version marketed in US is restricted to usage of the channels

1-11 only.

R&TTE Compliance Statement

This equipment complies with all the requirements of DIRECTIVE 1999/5/EC

OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL of March 9, 1999 on

radio equipment and telecommunication terminal Equipment and the mutual

recognition of their conformity (R&TTE)

The R&TTE Directive repeals and replaces in the directive 98/13/EEC

(Telecommunications Terminal Equipment and Satellite Earth Station

Equipment) As of April 8, 2000.

Safety

This equipment is designed with the utmost care for the safety of those who

install and use it. However, special attention must be paid to the dangers of

electric shock and static electricity when working with electrical equipment. All

guidelines of this and of the computer manufacture must therefore be allowed

at all times to ensure the safe use of the equipment.

EU Countries Intended for Use

The ETSI version of this device is intended for home and office use in Austria,

Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United

Kingdom.

The ETSI version of this device is also authorized for use in EFTA member

states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

EU Countries Not intended for use

None.

C A T A L O G

CHAPTER I: Product Information ...................................................... 1

1-1 Introduction and safety information ..................................................... 1

1-2 Safety Information .............................................................................. 2

1-3 System Requirements ........................................................................ 3

1-4 Package Contents .............................................................................. 4

1-5 Familiar with your new wireless network card ..................................... 6

CHAPTER II: Driver Installation and Configuration ......................... 7

2-1 Network Card Installation .................................................................... 7

2-2 Using the Wireless Configuration Utility ............................................ 15

2-2-1 Using Ralink Utility ................................................................. 16

2-2-1-1 Scan for Other Wireless Devices ................................. 18

2-2-1-2 Connect to an Access Point ......................................... 23

2-2-1-3 Add an Access Point to Profile ..................................... 27

2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration ........................................ 37

2-3 Profile Management ......................................................................... 42

2-3-1 Add a profile ........................................................................... 43

2-3-2 Edit an existing profile ............................................................ 44

2-3-3 Delete an existing profile ........................................................ 45

2-3-4 Activate a profile ..................................................................... 46

2-4 Advanced Settings ............................................................................ 47

2-5 View Network Statistics ..................................................................... 50

2-6 WMM Setting .................................................................................... 51

2-7 WPS Configuration ........................................................................... 54

2-7-1 WPS Setup - PBC (Push-Button Configuration) ..................... 55

2-7-2 WPS Setup - PIN .................................................................... 58

2-8 Radio On/Off ..................................................................................... 60

2-9 About ................................................................................................ 61

2-10 On-line Help .................................................................................... 62

CHAPTER III: Soft-AP Function ....................................................... 63

3-1 Switch to AP Mode and Basic Configuration ..................................... 63

3-2 Security Setting ................................................................................ 68

3-3 Access Control .................................................................................. 71

3-4 Connection Table .............................................................................. 73

3-5 Event Log ......................................................................................... 75

3-6 Statistics ........................................................................................... 76

3-7 About ................................................................................................ 77

CHAPTER IV: Appendix .................................................................... 78

4-1 Specification ..................................................................................... 78

4-2 Troubleshooting ................................................................................ 79

4-3 Glossary ........................................................................................... 81

CHAPTER I: Product Information

1-1 Introduction and safety information

Thank you for purchasing this high-speed wireless network card!
Excepting common wireless standards 802.11b/g, this wireless
network card is also able to access 802.11n wireless networks ­data transfer rate is 150Mbps, and that’s three times faster than

802.11g wireless network!

With easy-to-install PCI interface - a very common expansion port
of computers - plug this wireless network card into any empty PCI
slot of your computer, just that simple!

Other features of this wireless network card including:

 High-efficiency antenna expands the scope of your wireless

network.

 High-speed data transfer rate - Up to 150Mbps.
 WMM function: control the bandwidth required for different

applications.

 Work with IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless devices.
 Supports major encryption methods like WEP, WPA, and

WPA2 encryption.

 WPS configuration - You don’t need an experienced

computer technician to help you to get connected. Utilizing
the software program of the card, you can get your
computer connected by pushing a button or entering an
8-digit code. Pressing the button on the network card, the
WPS connection can be activated as well.

 PCI interface - you can get it installed on your computer in

just few seconds!

1

1-2 Safety Information

In order to keep the safety of users and your properties, please
follow the following safety instructions:

1. This wireless network card is designed for indoor use only. DO

NOT expose this network card to direct sun light, rain, or snow.

2. DO NOT put this network card at or near hot or humid places,

like kitchen or bathroom. Also, do not left this wireless network card
in the car in summer.

3. This network card will become hot when being used for long time

(This is normal and is not a malfunction). DO NOT put the

network card on a paper, cloth, or other flammable objects after the
network card has been used for a long time.

4. There’s no user-serviceable part inside the network card. If you

found that the network card is not working properly, please contact
your dealer of purchase and ask for help. DO NOT disassemble the
network card by your self, warranty will be void.

5. If the network card falls into water, DO NOT USE IT AGAIN

BEFORE YOU SEND THE CARD TO THE DEALER OF
PURCHASE FOR INSPECTION.

6. If you smell something strange or even see some smoke coming

out from the network card, switch the computer off immediately, and
call dealer of purchase for help.

2

1-3 System Requirements

 An empty PCI slot
 Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7 operating system
 CD-ROM drive
 At least 100MB of available disk space

3

1-4 Package Contents

Before you starting to use this wireless network card, please check
if there’s anything missing in the package, and contact your dealer
of purchase to claim for missing items:

□ PCI Wireless Network Card (1 pcs) …………………………….

1

□ 3dBi Dipole Antenna (1 pcs) ……………………………..……. 2
□ Quick Installation Guide (1 pcs) ………………………….……. 3
□ Driver/Utility/User Manual CD-ROM (1pcs) …..……………… 4

4

3

1 2

4

5

1-5 Familiar with your new wireless network card

1

2

3

1. Antennas

One 3dBi dipole antenna is enclosed with the PCI card. Please
secure the antenna to Reverse SMA connector of the card.

2. WPS Button

Press this button and hold for 3 seconds to start WPS function.
When WPS is enabled, the Link and Tx/Rx LEDs will be steadily
on.

3. Link and Tx/Rx LED Definitions

LED Name Light

Description

Status

Link On Link to a wireless access point

Off Radio is switched to off.

Tx/Rx Blinking Transferring / receiving data

Off No wireless activity

6

CHAPTER II: Driver Installation and Configuration

2-1 Network Card Installation

Please follow the following instructions to install your new wireless
network card:

1. SWITCH THE COMPUTER OFF, remove the cover and insert

the wireless network card into an empty PCI slot of your
computer and then replace the cover.

2. Install the antenna on the wireless network card, and make sure

the antenna is securely installed. To improve radio reception,
please adjust antenna to the proper position.

7

3. When you restart the computer, this ‘Found New Hardware

Wizard’ screen will appear, click ‘Cancel’.

4. Insert device driver CDROM into the CD/DVD ROM drive of your

computer, and execute ‘Setup.exe’ program. Please read the
end user license agreement and click ‘I accept the terms of the
license agreement’ then click ‘Next’ button, to accept license
agreement.

8

5. It is recommend installing driver and utility if the network card is

installing the first time. If you want to update the driver only,
choose ’Install driver only’. Click ‘Next’ to continue.

6. You can choose the configuration tool used to configure the

wireless network card here. It’s recommended to select ‘Ralink
Configuration Tool’, which provides fully access to all functions

9

of this wireless network card. If you prefer to use the wireless
configuration tool provided by Windows XP, please select
‘Microsoft Zero Configuration Tool’ then click ‘Next’.

7. Now you’ll see the following message, please click ‘Install’ to

start utility installation. If you see ‘Found New Hardware’

message again, please ignore it and wait.

10

11

8. Please wait while the install procedure is running. When you see

this message, please click ‘Finish’ to complete the driver
installation process.

12

9. After installation is complete, wireless configuration utility will be

shown in the desktop of your computer automatically. You will
also see an icon at the lower-right corner of your windows
system. If you put the mouse cursor on the icon, the status of
wireless card will be displayed as a popup balloon.

HERE!

When you want to configure your wireless connection, please
right click on this icon, and a popup menu will appear. You can
click ‘Launch Config Utility’ to start configuration program.

If you want to close the configuration utility, please click ‘Exit’.

Please note that if you stopped config utility by ‘Exit’ function,
you’ll not be able to maintain the wireless link to the access point
you wish to use. In this case, you can start config utility again by
clicking ‘Ralink Wireless Utility’ icon from ‘Start’ -> ‘All Programs’

-> ‘Ralink Wireless’, as shown below.

13

14

2-2 Using the Wireless Configuration Utility

There are two ways you can configure your wireless network card
to connect to wireless access point: using the Ralink configuration
utility and using built-in windows zero configuration utility.

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2-2-1 Using Ralink Utility

Please follow the following instructions to use Ralink configuration
utility to connect to wireless access point.

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then clicks ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Ralink setup utility (RaUI) will launch, and begin to scan for all

wireless access points automatically.

RaUI consists two parts: Menu and setup area. You can select a
setup function (Profile, Network, etc.) from menu, and
corresponding setup items will be displayed at setup area.

Menu

Setup
Area

More / Less
button

Some function includes more information, and can not be fitted
in setup area. In this case, you can click ‘More / less’ button to
expand the setup utility window, to display more information:

16

You can click ‘More / Less’ button again, and setup utility window
will resume to its original size.

Tip: If a setup item requires more information to complete the setup
procedure, the setup utility window will expand automatically.

17

2-2-1-1 Scan for Other Wireless Devices

There are two kinds of wireless connection mode: Infrastructure
and Ad-Hoc. Infrastructure mode is used by wireless access points,
which is able to establish wireless connection for you and other
wireless / wired network clients.

Ad-Hoc mode is also know as ‘point-to-point’ mode, and in this
mode, wireless devices such as computer or PDA will not be
capable to establish wireless connection with more than one
wireless device, and is suitable for establishing a one-to-one
wireless connection between two wireless devices.

Before you can connect to any wireless access point or device by
infrastructure or Ad-Hoc mode, there two things you must know:

a. Wireless device’s ‘SSID’ (Service Set IDentifier, someone will

call it ‘access point’s name’).

You can scan for the SSID of other wireless devices nearby,
but if the SSID of the wireless device you wish to connect is
hidden, you must know exact SSID before you can establish
connection with it.

b. If the wireless device you wish to connect uses encryption,

you must know its encryption key.

Please launch Ralink setup utility and it will scan for wireless
access points near by:

18

Scan results will be displayed here, please check if the wireless
device (access point or another computer) with the SSID you wish
to connect is shown here.

Scan result includes 6 types of information, they are:

A B C D E

A The SSID (Service Set Identifier) of wireless device. If
nothing is displayed here, it means the SSID of this wireless
device is hidden.

If a

symbol appears in front of the name of wireless device,

means you’ve established connected with that wireless device.

B The type of this wireless device and the channel number of
this wireless device.

Means this wireless device is an access point

Means this wireless device is a computer (Ad-Hoc mode,

point-to-point connection)

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C The wireless standard supported by this access point is
displayed here.

‘n’ for 802.11n
WPS icon
If the access point uses encryption, a key icon

, ‘g; for 802.11g , and ‘b’ for 802.11b .

will appear when the access point supports WPS.

will appear.

Note: When the access point supports WPS and WPS icon
appeared, you will not see the key icon

here even through

is

the access point uses encryption.

D Shows the signal strength of access point by percentage.

E Shows the bar graph of the signal strength.

If you can not see the access point you wish to connect here,
please click ‘Rescan’ button to scan for access point again, until the
one you preferred is displayed. You may have to click ‘Rescan’ for
more than two times before you can see the access point you wish
to use here.

If you still can not see the access point you wish to use after
clicking ‘Rescan’ for more than five times, please move your
computer closer to the location where the wireless access point is,
or see instructions in Chapter 4-2 ‘Troubleshooting’.

If you wish to see detailed information for a specific access point,
please double-click on it, and you’ll be provided with its detailed
information.

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There are 4 types of technical information:

General: Displays basic information about this access point,
such as SSID, MAC Address, authentication / encryption type,
channel etc.

WPS: If this access point supports WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup),
related information will be displayed here.

CCX: If this access point supports CCX (Cisco Compatible
eXtension), related information will be displayed here.

802.11n: If this access point complies with 802.11n draft, related
information will be displayed here.

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And here are descriptions of every setup item in setup area:

Item Name Description

Sorted by >> You can decide how to sort all listed access

point by ‘SSID’, ‘Channel’, or ‘Signal’ (signal
strength).

Show dBm Check this box to show the signal strength of

access point, instead of percentage.

Rescan Click this button to rescan access points. You

can click this button for several times, if the
access point you wish to use does not show in
the list.

Add to Profile You can store a specific access point to

profile, so you can link to that access point
directly next time, without inputting
authentication key again.

To add an access point to profile, you have to
select an access point from the list first, then
click ‘Add to Profile’ button. Detailed
instructions will be given below.

Connect Connect to a selected access point. You have

to select an access point from the list first and
then click ‘Connect’ to connect to the selected
access point.

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2-2-1-2 Connect to an Access Point

If the wireless access point you wish to connect is found, you can
establish connection with it by clicking ‘Connect’ button.
Instructions will be given as follow:

1. Click the wireless access point or network device you wish to

connect, it will be highlighted, then click ‘Connect’.

If the access point you selected does not use encryption, you’ll
be connected to this wireless access point within one minute. If
the access point you selected uses encryption, please proceed
to step 3.

2. If the wireless access point does not have SSID, you’ll be

prompted to input it now. Please ask the owner of wireless
access point for the exact SSID and input it here, then click ‘OK’
when ready. If the SSID you provided here is wrong, you’ll not be
able to connect to this access point.

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3. If the wireless access point uses encryption, you will be

prompted to input its WEP key or WPA preshared key.

24

4. Please ask the owner of the wireless access point you want to

connect, and input the correct key here and then click ‘OK’. By
checking ‘Show Password’ box, the encryption key you inputted
here will be displayed.

If the value you inputted here is wrong, you will not be able to
connect to this wireless access point.

Authentication type will be selected by the authentication
type of the access point automatically, please don’t change
it.

However, if you’re connecting to an access point uses 802.1x
authentication, you have to check ‘802.1x’ box and input related
information. Instructions for 802.1x authentication will be given
later.

5. If the wireless access point is successfully connected, you’ll see

symbol appears in front of the name of wireless device.

a

You can put the mouse cursor over the Ralink configuration
utility icon, and the brief information about link status and signal
strength of current wireless connection will be shown as a popup
balloon.

25

You can also click More / Less button (

) to see detailed

information of connected access point:

The current status of wireless connection will be displayed by
Ralink configuration utility icon:

reception.

Wireless connection is established, good signal reception.

Wireless connection is established, normal signal

Wireless connection is established, weak signal reception.

Connection is not established yet.

Wireless network card is not detected.

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2-2-1-3 Add an Access Point to Profile

If you will connect to some specific wireless access point frequently,
you can add their information to the profile. Just like the telephone
directory, the profile saves all information of access points, and you
can recall them anytime you wish to establish connection.

You can add a found access point to profile, or input all information
of an access point by yourself.

To add a found access point to profile, please select a found access
point first (to make it highlighted), then click ‘Add to Profile’ button;
to input the information of access point by yourself, please go to
‘Profile’ menu and click ‘Add’ button.

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The setup utility will expand:

Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

Profile Name You can give this profile a name. Every profile

needs a unique name.

SSID Please input the SSID of this access point. If

you selected an access point from the list, and
its SSID is not hidden, the SSID will be filled
automatically; however, you can modify the
SSID by yourself.

Network Type Please select the network type: Ad hoc or

Infrastructure. If you’re connecting to an
access point, please select ‘Infrastructure’; for
point-to-point wireless connection (i.e.

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connecting to another computer using Ad Hoc
mode), please select Ad hoc here.

If you selected an access point from the list
above, please keep this field unchanged.

Tx Power You can select the wireless output power

here. If you’re not too far from access point
(good signal reception), you can select a
lower output power to save energy; for a
distant access point, you can select a higher
output power.

It’s suggested to select ‘Auto’ to let setup
utility decide the best output power for you.

Preamble Select the preamble for Ad hoc mode here.

Available options are ‘Auto’ and ‘Long’.

It’s suggested to select ‘Auto’ to let setup
utility decide the preamble for you.

Channel You can select the radio channel number for

AdHoc mode here.
Power Save
Mode

Please select CAM (constantly awake mode,

keep wireless radio activity even when not

transferring data), or PSM (Power saving

mode, switches radio off when not transferring

data).

It’s recommended to choose ‘PSM’ if you’re

using this network card with notebook

computer to help the battery live longer.
RTS Threshold Check this box to set the RTS threshold by

yourself. You can drag the slider to set the

threshold value, or input the value in the box

located at right.

It’s recommended to keep this value

untouched unless you know the effect of

changing this value.

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Fragment
Threshold

Check this box to set the packet fragment

threshold by yourself. You can drag the slider

to set the threshold value, or input the value in

the box located at right.

It’s recommended to keep this value

untouched unless you know the effect of

changing this value.

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A

To set authentication / encryption information for the access point.
Please click ‘Auth. \ Encry.’ tab:

Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

uthentication Select the authentication type of the wireless access

point or wireless device you wish to connect. When
you’re adding a profile from an existing access point or
wireless device, authentication type will be selected
automatically, and please do not change it.

If you select ‘LEAP’, you’ll be prompted to input LEAD
specific settings:

Please input LEAP identity, password, domain name,
and select encryption type. You can check ‘Show
Password’ box so the password you inputted will be
displayed as you type, but not replace by asterisk.

Encryption Select the encryption type of the wireless access point

or wireless device you wish to connect. When you’re

31

adding a profile from an existing access point or
wireless device, the encryption type will be selected

automatically, and please do not modify it.
WPA
Preshared
Key

Input WPA preshared key here. If encryption is not

enabled, or you select ‘WEP’ as encryption type, this

field will be disabled and grayed out.
WEP Key You can select key type (Hexadecimal or ASCII) and

input WEP key here. If encryption is not enabled, or you

select ‘WPA’ as encryption type, this field will be

disabled and grayed out. You can set up to 4 WEP keys

here.

There are two types of WEP key: Hexadecimal and

ASCII. For Hexadecimal key, you can input number 0-9

and alphabet a-f; for example, ‘001122aabbcc’; For

ASCII key, you can input number 0-9 and alphabet a-z;

for example, mywepkey12345.

The length of WEP key depends on the type of WEP

key you selected. You can input 10 or 26 hexadecimal

characters and 5 or 13 ASCII characters as WEP key.
Show
Password

Check this box and all passphrases or security keys

you inputted will be displayed as you type, but not

replace your input with asterisk.
Use 802.1x If the access point you wish to connect requires 802.1x

authentication, please click on ‘Use 802.1x’ box, then

click ‘802.1X’ tab to set 802.1x parameters.

32

To set 802.1x authentication for the access point. Please click
‘802.1X’ tab:

Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

EAP Method Select 802.1x EAP method from dropdown menu.

Please ask the administrator of the access point you

wish to connect to select a correct EAP method.
Tunnel
Authentication

Select 802.1x tunnel authentication type from

dropdown menu. Please ask the administrator of the

access point you wish to connect to select a correct

tunnel authentication method. This pull down menu is

only available when authentication type you use is

'PEAP', ‘TLS / Smart Card', or 'TTLS'.

When you use 'EAP-FAST' as authentication type, the

protocol setting is always 'Generic Token Card' and can

not be changed. You also need to select ‘Soft Token’ or

‘Static Password’ as password in ‘ID \ Password’

setting.

’EAP Fast’ authentication type also have a sub-menu to

set EAP fast-specific parameters:

33

If you need to use protected authentication credential,

check ‘Use protected authentication credential’ box,

and click ‘Import’ to load .pac credential file; to remove

a loaded credential file, click ‘Remove’.
Session
Resumption

ID \ Password
tab

Client
Certification
tab

Server
Certification
tab

You can enable or disable session resumption here. If

you don’t know if you should enable session

resumption or not, please ask your 802.1x

authentication administrator.

Input 802.1x username (ID) and password and other

information if it is required here. Click ‘Show Password’

to show the password you typed.

Use this tab to select a local certificate from dropdown

menu. If the access point you wish to connect required

a specific client certificate, the certificate must be

installed on your computer, and you can select the

certificate here.

Use this tab to use server-based certification. Please

select a CA (Certificate Authority) from dropdown

menu. If intermediate certificates are allowed, please

select ‘Allow intermediate certificates’. Also, if you need

to specify CA server’s name, you can specify it in

‘Server name’ field. You can select ‘Server name must

match’, so the CA server’s name must be the same with

the value you set in ‘Server name’ field; If only the

domain name part of full server name must the same

with the value you set in ‘Server name’ field, select

‘Domain name must end in specified name’.

34

After you complete all information related to the access point, click
‘OK’ to save the profile, or click ‘cancel’ to cancel adding a new
profile.

If the profile is created, you will see the information in the Profile
List.

35

36

2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration

Windows XP and Vista has a built-in wireless network configuration
utility, called as ‘Windows Zero Configuration’ (WZC). You can also
use WZC to configure your wireless network parameter:

1. Right-click Ralink configuration utility icon and select ‘Use Zero

Configuration as Configuration utility’.

2. Right click Windows Zero Configuration icon and select ‘View

Available Wireless Networks’. If you can not find the icon, please
follow the procedures from step 3 to step 5.

HERE!

37

3. Click ‘Start’ button (should be located at the bottom-left corner of

windows desktop), click ‘Control Panel’, then click ‘Network and
Internet Connections’ in Control Panel.

4. Click ‘Network Connections’.

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5. Right-click ‘Wireless Network Connection’ (it may have a

number as suffix if you have more than one wireless network
card, please make sure you right-click the ‘Ralink 802.11n
Wireless LAN Card), then select ‘View Available Wireless
Networks’.

6. All wireless access points in proximity will be displayed here. If

the access point you want to use is not displayed here, please
try to move your computer closer to the access point, or you can
click ‘Refresh network list’ to rescan access points. Click the
access point you want to use if it’s shown, then click ‘Connect’.

39

7. If the access point is protected by encryption, you have to input

its security key or passphrase here. It must match the encryption
setting on the access point.

If the access point you selected does not use encryption, you’ll
not be prompted for security key or passphrase.

8. If you can see ‘Connected’ message, the connection between

your computer and wireless access point is successfully
established.

40

41

2-3 Profile Management

If you need to connect to different wireless access points at
different time, like of access point of your home, office, cybercafe,
or public wireless service, you can store the connection parameters
(encryption, passphrase, security etc, etc.) as a profile for every
access point, so you don’t have to input these parameters every
time when you want to connect to a specific wireless access point.
To manage profiles, right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon
located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click
‘Launch Config Utility’.

Click the ‘Profile’ menu. All profiles will be listed in ‘Profile List’, and
you can select a profile from the list, all information about selected
profile will be listed.

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2-3-1 Add a profile

If you want to click new profile, click ‘Profile’ menu, then click ‘Add’
button. You’ll be prompted to input detailed information of access
point, as described in Section 2-2-1-3.

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2-3-2 Edit an existing profile

If you have added a profile before, and you wish to change the
content of the profile, you can use this function. Please select a
profile from the list first, then click ‘Edit’ button. You’ll be provided
with the contents of selected profile, and you can edit them. Click
‘OK’ to save changes, or click ‘Cancel’ to discard changes.

44

2-3-3 Delete an existing profile

If you no longer need a profile, you can delete it. Select the profile
you wish to delete from the list, and click ‘Delete’ button to delete it.

45

2-3-4 Activate a profile

When you want to connect to a specific wireless device in the
profile list, you can select it and click ‘Activate’ button, to establish
connection with it.

When you selected a profile and click ‘Activate’ button to activate
the profile, a

icon will be displayed in front of the profile to show
that the connection is failed; When the connection is successfully
established, a

icon will be displayed.

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2-4 Advanced Settings

This wireless network card provides several advanced settings for
experienced wireless users. You can change these settings to
increase data transfer performance, or change operation mode.

Please follow the following instructions to set advanced wireless
settings:

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘Advanced’ menu, and the following settings will appear:

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Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

Wireless mode Display the wireless operation mode of the

network card.

Enable Tx Burst Check this box to accelerate the data transmit

rate. It may not work with all wireless access

point and wireless devices.
Enable TCP
Window Size

Check this box and the configuration utility will

adjust TCP window size automatically to get

better performance. It should be safe for most

of wireless environments, but if you found

some problem on data transfer, uncheck this

box.
Fast Roaming Check this box and you can control the

threshold that the wireless network card

should switch to another wireless access point

with better signal quality. Only adjust value

when you understand what it means and you

need to roam between multiple access points.
Show
Authentication
Status Dialog

When your computer is being authenticated

by wireless authentication server, a dialog

window with the process of authentication will

appear. This function is helpful to find out the

problem when you can not be authenticated,

and you can provide this information to

authentication server’s administrator for

debugging purpose.
Enable CCX Enable Cisco Compatible eXtensions. CCX is

a wireless feature developed by Cisco used to

improve the wireless performance with CCX

compatible wireless devices. Check this box if

you need to connect to CCX-compatible

wireless devices. When you enabled CCX, the

following setup items will become available:

Turn on CCKM: Check this box to enable

CCKM (Cisco Centralized Key Management),

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which enables wireless clients to roam

between CCKM-enabled access points in very

short time.

Enable Radio Measurements: When you’re

connecting to CCX-compatible access point,

check this box to enable radio measurement

function to improve wireless connectivity.

Non-Serving Channel Measurements Limit:

When you’re connecting to CCX-compatible

access point, check this box to enable

measurement on unused radio channels to

improve wireless connectivity.

After you finish the settings, click ‘Apply’ to apply new settings.

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2-5 View Network Statistics

The configuration utility provides information about network
statistics and link status. If you want to know how your wireless
network card works, you can use these functions to get detailed
information about the wireless connection you’re using.

Please follow the following instructions to check network statistics:

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘Statistics’ menu and the statistics of wireless connection

will be displayed:

All connection-related statistics is displayed here. You can click
‘Transmit’ or ‘Receive’ tab, to view the statistics of transmitted or
received packets. You can also click ‘Reset Counter’ button, to
reset the statistics of all items back to 0.

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2-6 WMM Setting

This wireless network card provides WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia)
function, which can improve the performance of certain network
applications, like audio/video streaming, network telephony (VoIP),
and others. When you enable the WMM function of this network
card, you can define the priority of different kinds of data, to give
higher priority to applications which require instant responding.
Therefore you can improve the performance of such network
applications.

Please follow the following instructions to set advanced wireless
settings:

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘WMM’ menu, and the following settings will appear:

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52

In ‘WMM Setup Status’ block, current WMM settings will be

displayed. And here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

WMM Enable Check this box to enable WMM function.

Please click ‘Apply’ button on the right of this

check box after you check or uncheck this

box, so corresponding settings in this window

will be activated or deactivated respectively.
WMM - Power
Save Enable

Direct Link Setup
Enable

Check this box to enable WMM power saving

mode to save energy, and let your computer’s

battery live longer.

You also have to select WMM power save

modes here:

AC_BE: Best Performance

AC_BK: Worst Performance

AC_VI: Video data has priority

AC_VO: Voice data has priority

If you have another WMM-enabled wireless

device, you can enter its MAC address here,

then click ‘Apply’ button, and this network card

will establish a direct link to the wireless

device you specified here.

You also have to specify the timeout value of

this directly-linked wireless device. Valid

values are from 1 to 65535 (seconds), and

input ‘0’ for infinity.

If you want to remove a specific wireless

device from direct link table, select the device

and click this button to remove it.

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2-7 WPS Configuration

Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is the latest wireless network
technology which makes wireless network setup become very
simple. If you have WPS-enabled wireless access point, and you
want to establish a secure connection to it, you don’t have to
configure the wireless access point and setup data encryption by
yourself. All you have to do is to go to the WPS setup page of this
wireless card, click a button, and then press a specific button or
enter a set of 8-digit code on the wireless access point you wish to
establish a secure connection - just three simple steps!

For older wireless access points, it’s possible to perform a firmware
upgrade to become a WPS-enabled access point. Since they may
not have a hardware button to press for WPS setup, you can use
an alternative WPS setup method - input the pin code. Every
WPS-compatible wireless network card support pin code
configuration method; you can just input the code to wireless
access point, and the wireless access point and wireless network
card will do the rest for you.

This wireless network card is compatible with WPS. To use this
function, the wireless access point you wish to connect to must
support WPS function too. Now, please follow the following
instructions to establish secure connection between WPS-enabled
wireless access point and your wireless network card.

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2-7-1 WPS Setup - PBC (Push-Button Configuration)

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘WPS’ menu, and the following settings will appear.

3. Set ‘Config Mode’ to ‘Enrollee’, and then push the ‘WPS’ button

on your wireless access point (the button used to activate WPS
standby mode may have another name), or use other way to
start WPS PBC standby mode as the instruction given by your
wireless access point’s user manual.

You can also set ‘Config Mode’ to ‘Registrar’. In this mode, this
wireless network card will wait for other WPS-enabled access
points to send WPS pairing requests. Please refer to the
instruction given by your wireless access point’s user manual to
understand how to send WPS requests.

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4. Before you start to establish the wireless connection by using

WPS, you can click ‘Rescan’ button to search for WPS-enabled
access points near you again, to make sure the WPS function of
your access point is activated.

All access points with WPS function enabled will be displayed
here. Please make sure the access point you wish to connect is
displayed. If not, please click ‘Rescan’ few more times. You can
also click ‘Information’ button to see the detailed information
about selected access point.

5. Start PBC pairing procedure at access point side (please refer to

the instruction given by your access point’s manufacturer), then
click ‘PBC’ button in wireless configuration utility to start to
establish wireless connection by WPS. Please be patient (This
may require several seconds to one minute to complete). When
you see ‘WPS status is connected successfully’ message,
means the connection between this wireless network card and
access point is successfully established by WPS, and the
information about access point you connected to will be
displayed.

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6. You can click ‘Detail’ button to see detailed information of

connected access point. If you wish to save this connection as a
profile, you can click ‘Export Profile’ button, and this connection
will be saved. You can find this connection in ‘Profile’ tab in a
later time.

7. Sometime WPS may fail (In the following picture, WPS pairing is

failed because no WPS-enabled access point is found):

You can click ‘PBC’ button few more times to try again. When an
access point is connected, you can click ‘Disconnect’ to
disconnect your wireless network card from a connected access
point, or select another WPS-enabled wireless access point,
then click ‘Connect’ to establish connection to selected access
point, if there are more than one WPS-enabled access point
found. You can also click ‘Rotate’ button, and next access point
on the list will be selected to establish connection.

If you want to delete a found access point from the list, select it
and click ‘Delete’ button.

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2-7-2 WPS Setup - PIN

If the wireless access point you wish to connect supports PIN,
please follow the following instructions to establish connection to it:

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘WPS Configuration’ menu, and the following settings will

appear.

3. The PIN code of your wireless network card is an eight-digit

number located at the upper-right position of configuration utility.
Remember it, and input the number to your wireless access
point as the WPS PIN code (Please refer to the user manual of
your wireless access point for instructions about how to do this).

NOTE: If you experienced problem with the pin code provided here,
you can click ‘Renew’ to get a new pin code.

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4. Click ‘PIN’ button now, and wait for few seconds to one minute. If

a wireless access point with correct PIN code is found, you’ll be
connected to that access point.

5. You may have to click ‘PIN’ for few more times to try again. If you

still can not connect to access point by this way, please make
sure the PIN code you provided to access point is correct.

There are also some options available for WPS configuration:

WPS associate IE: Check this box to send the association request
with WPS IE during WPS setup. This is optional and you can use
default value if you don’t know what will be affected.

WPS probe IE: Check this box to send the WPS probe request with
WPS IE during WPS setup. This is optional and you can use default
value if you don’t know what will be affected.

Auto: When in PIN mode, wireless access point to be connected
will be selected automatically if this box is checked.

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2-8 Radio On/Off

You can switch the wireless radio transceiver on and off by the
utility, so if you want to disable wireless network function, you don’t
have to remove the network card physically.

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. To switch wireless radio on/off, please click ‘Radio On/Off’

button.

Wireless radio is on (Green)

Wireless radio is off (Red)

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2-9 About

The ‘About’ tab provides you the information about version number
of the configuration utility, driver, and other important information
about your wireless network card.

Please follow the following instructions to see these information:

1. Right-click the Ralink configuration utility icon located at

lower-right corner of computer desktop and then click ‘Launch
Config Utility’.

2. Click ‘About’ tab, and the following information will appear.

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2-10 On-line Help

If you need to know the directions of how to use specific function in
the utility, please click ‘Help’ button. On-line help documents will be
presented in Windows help format.

Click this button to view on-line help documents.

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CHAPTER III: Soft-AP Function

Excepting become a wireless client of other wireless access points,
this wireless card can act as a wireless service provider also! You
can switch this wireless card’s operating mode to ‘AP’ mode to
simulate the function of a real wireless access point by software,
and all other computers and wireless devices can connect to your
computer wirelessly, even share the internet connection you have!

Please follow the instructions in following chapters to use the AP
function of your wireless card.

3-1 Switch to AP Mode and Basic Configuration

The operating mode of the wireless card is ‘Station Mode’
(becoming a client of other wireless access points) by default. If you
want to switch to AP mode, please right-click Ralink utility icon, and
select ‘Switch to AP Mode’.

After you select ‘Switch to AP Mode’, the Ralink utility icon will be
changed to:

Which indicated the wireless card is operating in AP mode now. If
you want to switch the wireless card back to station mode (become
a client of other wireless access points), click ‘Switch to Station
Mode’.

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A configuration window will appear after you switch the operation
mode to ‘AP’, which asks you to assign an existing network card
with internet connection.

If your computer has another network card which is connected to
Internet, please select it from ‘Name’ dropdown menu, and click
‘Enable ICS’; if your computer does not have another network card
with Internet connection, please click ‘Not enable ICS’.

After you click ‘Enable ICS’ or ‘Not enable ICS’, you’ll see the basic
configuration menu of the AP function.

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Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

SSID Please input the SSID (the name used to

identify

this wireless access point) here. Up to 32

numerical characters can be accepted here,

excepting space.
Channel Please select the wireless channel you wish

to use. The number of channels available

here will vary depends on the setting of

‘Country Region Code’.

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Wireless Mode Select the operation mode of the access point

here.
Use Mac Address Click this button to use the MAC address of

the wireless card as SSID. A prefix ‘AP’ will be

added automatically.
Security Setting Set the security options (wireless data

encryption). Please refer to chapter 3-2

‘Security Settings’ for details.
Country Region
Code

Please select the country code of the country

or region you live. Available options are 0-7,

which will affect the available wireless

channels you can use:

0: FCC (US, Canada, and other countries

uses FCC radio communication standards)

1: ETSI (Europe)

2: SPAIN

3: FRANCE

4: MKK

5: MKKI (TELEC)

6: ISERAL (Channel 3 to 9)

7: ISERAL (Channel 5 to 13)

Please note that only change the country

code if you are in different country. For

example: when operating this product in

US, only channels 1~11 can be operated.

Selection of other channels is not

permitted under FCC regulations.

No forwarding
among wireless

Check this box and wireless clients will not be

able to share data with each other.
clients
Hide SSID Check this box and the SSID will not be

broadcasted to the public. Your wireless

clients must know the exact SSID to be able

to connect to your computer. This option is

useful to enhance security level.
Allow BW 40 MHz Check this box to allow BW 40MHz capability.

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Tx BURST Check this box to accelerate the data transmit

rate. It may not work with all wireless access

point and wireless devices.
Beacon(ms) You can define the time interval that a beacon

signal should be send. Default value is 100.

Do not modify this value unless you know

what will be affected.
TX Power You can select the wireless output power

here. Please select a proper output power

setting according to your actual needs. You

may not need 100% of output power if other

wireless clients are not far from you.
Idle Time Select the idle time for the wireless access

point. Default value is 300. Do not modify this

value unless you know what will be affected.

To save changes, click ‘Apply button. Or you can click ‘Default’ to
reset all values to factory default value.

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3-2 Security Setting

This wireless card supports wireless encryption in AP mode, which
will encrypt the data being transferred over the air to enhance data
security level. It’s recommended to enable data encryption unless
you wish to open your computer (and its internet connection) to the
public.

When you click ‘Security Setting’ in the utility, the following window
will appear:

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Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

Authentication
Type

Please select a wireless authentication type

you wish to use. Available options are ‘Open’,

‘Shared’, WPA-PSK’, ‘WPA2-PSK’, and

‘WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK’. If you want to

disable wireless data encryption, you must

select ‘Open’.
Encryption Type Please select an encryption mode. The

available options in this setting item will vary

depending on the authentication type you

select. If you select ‘Not Use’, data will not be

encrypted and people with some networking

knowledge will be able to read the data you

transfer with proper tool.
WPA Pre-shared
Key

Please input the WPA pre-shared key here.

Only clients with the same pre-shared key you

inputted here will be able to connect to your

computer. This setting is only available when

you select one of WPA encryptions.
Group Rekey
Interval

You can specify the time interval to re-issue

the key to your wireless clients here. You can

click the button ’10 seconds’ or ‘Kpackets’ to

change the unit of time interval. (every 10

seconds or a thousand data packets times the

value you specified in ‘Group Rekey Interval’

field).
Wep Key Please input the WEP encryption key here

when you select ‘WEP’ as encryption type.

There are 2 types of WEP key: Hex (number 0

to 9, and ASCII characters A to F) and ASCII

(all alphanumerical characters plus symbols).

Please select the type of WEP key first, and

then input the WEP key according to the type

of WEP key you selected.

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If you want to use WEP 64 bits encryption,

please input 10 characters if you select HEX,

or input 5 characters if you select ASCII. If you

want to use WEP 128bits encryption, please

input 26 characters if you select HEX, or input

13 characters if you select ASCII. 128 bits

encryption is safer then 64 bits, but the data

transfer speed will be slightly reduced.
Show Password

Check this box and the WPA pre-shared key

or WEP key you inputted will be shown, but

not replaced by asterisk (*).

When you finish with setting and want to save changes, click ‘OK’
button, or click ‘Cancel’ button to discard all changes you made.

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3-3 Access Control

If you’re not going to open your computer and wireless resources to
the public, you can use MAC address filtering function to enforce
your access control policy, so only wireless clients with MAC
address you defined by this function can be connected to your
software access point.

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Here are descriptions of every setup item:

Item Name Description

Access Policy Select the policy type of your access rule.

Disable: Allow any wireless client with proper

authentication settings to connect to this

access point.

Allow All: Only allow wireless clients with MAC

address listed here to connect to this access

point.

Reject All: Reject wireless clients with MAC

address listed here to be connected to this

access point.
MAC address Input the MAC address of the wireless client

you wish to allow or reject here. No colon (:) or

hyphen (-) required.
Add Add the MAC address you inputted in ‘MAC

address’ field to the list.
Delete Please select a MAC address from the list,

then click ‘Delete’ button to remove it.
Remove All Delete all MAC addresses in the list.

When you finish with setting and want to save changes, click
‘Apply’ button.

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3-4 Connection Table

If you want to see the list of all wireless clients connected to this
access point, please select ‘Mac Table’ tab from the utility.

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Here are descriptions of every field:

Item Name Description

MAC Address Displays the MAC address of this wireless

client.
AID The serial number of this wireless connection.
Power Saving
Mode

Displays the capability of power-saving

function of this wireless client.
Status Displays additional information of this wireless

Connection, like current wireless operating

mode and data transfer rate.

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3-5 Event Log

This software access point will log all wireless-related activities as a
log. Click ‘Event Log’ tab, and the event log will be displayed.

You can click ‘Clear’ to remove all entries in the log.

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3-6 Statistics

If you want to know detailed information about how your software
access point works, click ‘Statistics’ tab, and the event log will be
displayed.

You can click ‘RESET COUNTERS’ button to reset all counters to
zero.

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3-7 About

The ‘About’ tab provides you the information about version number
of the configuration utility, driver, and other important information
about your wireless access point.

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CHAPTER IV: Appendix

4-1 Specification

Standards: IEEE 802.11b/g/n (1T1R)

Interface: 32Bit PCI

Frequency Band: 2.4000 ~ 2.4835GHz (Industrial Scientific Medical Band)

Data Rate: 11b: 1/2/5.5/11Mbps

11g: 6/9/12/24/36/48/54Mbps

11n (20MHz): MCS0-7 (up to 72Mbps)

11n (40MHz): MCS0-7 (up to 150Mbps)

Securities: WEP 64/128-bit, WPA, WPA2

Cisco CCX Support

Antenna: One External Dipole Antenna (1T1R)

Drivers: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

LEDs: Link, Tx/Rx

Temperature: 32~104°F (0 ~ 40°C)

Humidity: 10-90% (NonCondensing)

Certification: FCC, CE

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4-2 Troubleshooting

If you encounter any problem when you’re using this wireless
network card, don’t panic! Before you call your dealer of purchase
for help, please check this troubleshooting table, the solution of
your problem could be very simple, and you can solve the problem
by yourself!

Scenario Solution
I can’t find any wireless
access point / wireless
device in ‘Site Survey’
function.

Nothing happens when
I click ‘Launch config
utilities’

1. Click ‘Rescan’ for few more times
and see if you can find any wireless
access point or wireless device.

2. Please move closer to any known
wireless access point.

3. ‘Ad hoc’ function must be enabled for
the wireless device you wish to
establish a direct wireless link.

4. Please adjust the position of the
antenna and click ‘Rescan’ button for
few more times.

1. Please make sure the wireless
network card is firmly inserted into
your computer’s PCI slot. If the
Ralink configuration utility’s icon is
black, the network card is not
detected by your computer. Switch

I can not establish
connection with a
certain wireless access
point

the computer off and insert the card
again. If this doesn’t work, contact
the dealer of purchase for help.

2. Reboot the computer and try again.

3. Remove the driver and re-install.

4. Contact the dealer of purchase for
help.

1. Click ‘Connect’ for few more times.

2. If the SSID of access point you wish
to connect is hidden (nothing
displayed in ‘SSID’ field in ‘Site
Survey’ function), you have to input

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correct SSID of the access point you
wish to connect. Please contact the
owner of access point to ask for
correct SSID.

3. You have to input correct passphrase
/ security key to connect an access
point with encryption. Please contact
the owner of access point to ask for
correct passphrase / security key.

4. The access point you wish to connect
only allows network cards with
specific MAC address to establish
connection. Please go to ‘About’ tab
and write the value of ‘Phy_Addess’
down, then present this value to the

The network is slow /
having problem when
transferring large files

owner of access point so he / she
can add the MAC address of your
network card to his / her access
point’s list.

1. Move closer to the place where
access point is located.

2. Enable ‘Wireless Protection’ in
‘Advanced’ tab.

3. Disable ‘Tx Burst’ in ‘Advanced’ tab.

4. Enable ‘WMM’ in ‘QoS’ tab if you
need to use multimedia / telephony
related applications.

5. Disable ‘WMM – Power Save Enable’
in ‘QoS’ tab.

6. There could be too many people
using the same radio channel. Ask
the owner of the access point to
change the channel number.

Please try one or more solutions listed
above.

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4-3 Glossary

1. What is the IEEE 802.11g standard?

802.11g is the new IEEE standard for high-speed wireless LAN
communications that provides for up to 54 Mbps data rate in
the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11g is quickly becoming the next
mainstream wireless LAN technology for the home, office and
public networks.

802.11g defines the use of the same OFDM modulation
technique specified in IEEE 802.11a for the 5 GHz frequency
band and applies it in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as
IEEE 802.11b. The 802.11g standard requires backward
compatibility with 802.11b.

The standard specifically calls for:

A. A new physical layer for the 802.11 Medium Access Control

(MAC) in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, known as the
extended rate PHY (ERP). The ERP adds OFDM as a
mandatory new coding scheme for 6, 12 and 24 Mbps
(mandatory speeds), and 18, 36, 48 and 54 Mbps (optional
speeds). The ERP includes the modulation schemes found
in 802.11b including CCK for 11 and 5.5 Mbps and Barker
code modulation for 2 and 1 Mbps.

B. A protection mechanism called RTS/CTS that governs how

802.11g devices and 802.11b devices interoperate.

2. What is the IEEE 802.11b standard?

The IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN standard subcommittee,
which formulates the standard for the industry. The objective is
to enable wireless LAN hardware from different manufactures
to communicate.

3. What does IEEE 802.11 feature support?

The product supports the following IEEE 802.11 functions:

 CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge Protocol
 Multi-Channel Roaming
 Automatic Rate Selection
 RTS/CTS Feature
 Fragmentation
 Power Management

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4. What is Ad-hoc?

An Ad-hoc integrated wireless LAN is a group of computers,
each has a Wireless LAN card, Connected as an independent
wireless LAN. Ad hoc wireless LAN is applicable at a
departmental scale for a branch or SOHO operation.

5. What is Infrastructure?

An integrated wireless and wireless and wired LAN is called an
Infrastructure configuration. Infrastructure is applicable to
enterprise scale for wireless access to central database, or
wireless application for mobile workers.

6. What is BSS ID?

A specific Ad hoc LAN is called a Basic Service Set (BSS).
Computers in a BSS must be configured with the same BSS
ID.

7. What is WEP?

WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy, a data privacy mechanism
based on a 40 bit shared key algorithm, as described in the
IEEE 802 .11 standard.

8. What is TKIP?

TKIP is a quick-fix method to quickly overcome the inherent
weaknesses in WEP security, especially the reuse of
encryption keys. TKIP is involved in the IEEE 802.11i WLAN
security standard, and the specification might be officially
released by early 2003.

9. What is AES?

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), a chip-based security,
has been developed to ensure the highest degree of security
and authenticity for digital information, wherever and however
communicated or stored, while making more efficient use of
hardware and/or software than previous encryption standards.
It is also included in IEEE 802.11i standard. Compare with AES,
TKIP is a temporary protocol for replacing WEP security until
manufacturers implement AES at the hardware level.

10. Can Wireless products support printer sharing?

Wireless products perform the same function as LAN products.
Therefore, Wireless products can work with Netware, Windows
2000, or other LAN operating systems to support printer or file
sharing.

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11. Would the information be intercepted while transmitting
on air?

WLAN features two-fold protection in security. On the
hardware side, as with Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
technology, it has the inherent security feature of scrambling.
On the software side, WLAN series offer the encryption
function (WEP) to enhance security and Access Control. Users
can set it up depending upon their needs.

12. What is DSSS? What is FHSS? And what are their
differences?

Frequency-hopping spread-spectrum (FHSS) uses a
narrowband carrier that changes frequency in a pattern that is
known to both transmitter and receiver. Properly synchronized,
the net effect is to maintain a single logical channel. To an
unintended receiver, FHSS appears to be short-duration
impulse noise. Direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS)
generates a redundant bit pattern for each bit to be transmitted.
This bit pattern is called a chip (or chipping code). The longer
the chip is, the greater the probability that the original data can
be recovered. Even if one or more bits in the chip are
damaged during transmission, statistical techniques
embedded in the radio can recover the original data
without-the need for retransmission. To an unintended receiver,
DSSS appears as low power wideband noise and is rejected
(ignored) by most narrowband receivers.

13. What is Spread Spectrum?

Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency
technique developed by the military for use in reliable, secure,
mission-critical communication systems. It is designed to trade
off bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In
other words, more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of
narrowband transmission, but the trade off produces a signal
that is, in effect, louder and thus easier to detect, provided that
the receiver knows the parameters of the spread-spectrum
signal being broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to the right
frequency, a spread –spectrum signal looks like background
noise. There are two main alternatives, Direct Sequence
Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum (FHSS).

14. What is WMM?

Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), a group of features for wireless

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networks that improve the user experience for audio, video
and voice applications. WMM is based on a subset of the IEEE

802.11e WLAN QoS draft standard. WMM adds prioritized
capabilities to Wi-Fi networks and optimizes their performance
when multiple concurring applications, each with different
latency and throughput requirements, compete for network
resources. By using WMM, end-user satisfaction is maintained
in a wider variety of environments and traffic conditions. WMM
makes it possible for home network users and enterprise
network managers to decide which data streams are most
important and assign them a higher traffic priority.

15. What is WMM Power Save?

WMM Power Save is a set of features for Wi-Fi networks that
increase the efficiency and flexibility of data transmission in
order to conserve power. WMM Power Save has been
optimized for mobile devices running latency-sensitive
applications such as voice, audio, or video, but can benefit any
Wi-Fi device. WMM Power Save uses mechanisms included in
the IEEE 802.11e standard and is an enhancement of IEEE

802.11 legacy power save. With WMM Power Save, the same
amount of data can be transmitted in a shorter time while
allowing the Wi-Fi device to remain longer in a low-power
“dozing” state.

16. What is GI?

GI stands for Guard Interval. It’s a measure to protect wireless
devices from cross- interference. If there are two wireless
devices using the same or near channel, and they are close
enough, radio interference will occur and reduce the radio
resource usability.

17. What is STBC?

STBC stands for Space-Time Block Coding, which is a
technique used to transfer multiple copies of data by multiple
antenna, to improve data transfer performance. By using
multiple antennas, not only data transfer rate is improved, but
also the wireless stability.

18. What is WPS?

WPS stands for Wi-Fi Protected Setup. It provides a simple
way to establish unencrypted or encrypted connections
between wireless clients and access point automatically. User
can press a software or hardware button to activate WPS

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function, and WPS-compatible wireless clients and access
point will establish connection by themselves. There are two
types of WPS: PBC (Push-Button Configuration) and PIN
code.

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