Edimax Technology Co 9577270718 User Manual

802.11b/g/n

Wireless LAN PCI Card

User Manual

Version: 1.0

(December, 2007)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright ©2007/2008 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.

C A T A L O G

CHAPTER I: PRODUCT INFORMATION

1-1 Introduction and safety information

1-2 Safety Information

1-3 System Requirements

1-4 Package Contents

1-5 Familiar with Your New Wireless Network Card

CHAPTER II: DRIVER INSTALLATION AND

CONFIGURATION

2-1 Network Card and Driver Installation

2-2 Connect to Wireless Access Point
2-2-1 Using Ralink Utility
2-2-2 Using Windows Zero Configuration

2-3 Connection Profile Management and 802.1x Settings
2-3-1 Make a Profile for an Access Point or Wireless Device
2-3-2 Using 802.1x - Certification
2-3-3 Using 802.1x - CA Server

2-4 View Network Statistics and Link S tatus
2-4-1 Network Statistics
2-4-2 Link Status

2-5 Advanced Settings

2-6 QoS Setting

2-7 WPS Configuration

2-8 About

CHAPTER III: Soft-AP Function

3-1 Switch to AP Mode and Basic Configuration

3-2 Security Settings

3-3 Access Control

3-4 Connection Table

3-5 Event Log

3-6 Statistics

CHAPTER IV: APPENDIX

4-1 Hardware Specification

4-2 Troubleshooting

4-3 Glossary

4-4 FCC and Other Compliance Statements

Chapter I: Product Information

1-1 Introduction and safety information

Thank you for purchasing this high-speed 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless
network card! Excepting common wireless standards 802.11b/g, this
wireless network card is also 802.11 Draft-N compatible. 802.11 Draft-N
also provides wider wireless coverage, so you don’t have to worry if your
computer is far from your wireless access point. This wireless network
card also supports MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) technology, which uses
two antennas for signal reception and one antenna for high power signal
transmission to enhance data transfer rate (Up to 150Mbps) and wireless
coverage.

With easy-to-install PCI interface - a very common expansion slot of
desktop computers - and Plug-and-Play technology, even inexperienced
computer user can get this wireless network card installed on his or her
computer in just few minutes! All you have to do is shutdown the
computer and remove the cover and then insert the wireless network card
into any empty PCI slot, that’s all!

Other features of this router including:

 High-efficiency antenna expands the scope of your wireless

network.

 QoS function: control the bandwidth required for different

applications.

 802.11b/g/Draft-N compatible.
 Supports major encryption methods like WEP, WP A, and WPA2

encryption.

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

few minutes!

 Supports software AP function (turns the card to a wireless

access point).

1-2 Safety Information

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

1. This PCI wireless network card is designed for indoor use only. DO
NOT expose this network card to direct sun light or rain, 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. Shutdown the computer and remove the power cord of your computer
when you want to install / remove the network card. If you’re not familiar
about interface card installation, ask an experienced technician for help.

4. The antenna of this network card is small enough to put in a child’s
mouth, ear, or nose, and it could cause serious injury or could be fatal. If
they throw the network card or antenna, cards or antennas will be
damaged. PLEASE KEEP THIS NETWORK CARD OUT THE REACH
OF CHILDREN!

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

6. If the network card falls into water, DO NOT USE IT AGAIN
BEFORE YOU SEND THE CARD TO THE DEALER OF PURCHASE
FOR INSPECTION.

7. If you smell something strange or even see some smoke coming out
from your computer, switch the computer off immediately, and call dealer
of purchase for help.

1-3 System Requirements

 Desktop PC with Pentium 300 MHz-compatible processor or higher
 An empty PCI slot
 Windows 2000, 2003, XP, or Vista operating system
 CD-ROM drive
 At least 100MB of available disk space

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
□ Quick installation guide (1 pcs) ………………………………… 2
□ User manual/Device Driver CDROM (1pcs) ……………………..3
□ Antennas (2 pcs) ……………….……………………………….. 4

1-5 Familiar with your new wireless network card

2

3

1

1. Antennas
Two 3dBi dipole antennas are enclosed with the PCI card. Please secure
these two antennas to Reverse SMA connectors 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 Status Description

On Link to a wireless access point Link
Off Not linked to any wireless access point
Blinking Transferring / receiving data Tx/Rx
Off No wireless activity

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.

2. Install all two antennas on the wireless network card, and make sure

the antennas are securely installed. To improve radio reception, please
adjust antennas to the position shown in the picture.

3. Switch the computer on, the following message will appear on your

computer, please 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 select ‘I accept the terms of the license
agreement’ and then click ‘Next’ to accept license agreement.

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

6. There are two wireless performance modes you can select here:

Optimize for WiFi mode or
Optimize for performance mode

If you want to enhance wireless performance, please select ‘Optimize
for performance mode’. However, wireless compatibility is not
guaranteed in this mode. If you want to use this mode, you may not be
able to communicate with older wireless devices and wireless access
point, such as 802.11b devices, but the data transfer rate will be
enhanced in this mode. You can select this mode when you only plan
to communicate with 802.11 Draft-N devices.

If you want to keep compatibility and communicate with older
wireless devices, please select ‘Optimize for WiFi Mode’.

When you select one mode, please click ‘Next’ to continue. If you see

‘Found New Hardware’ message again, please ignore it and wait.

7. When you see this message, please click ‘Finish’ to complete the

driver installation process.

8. Select ‘Yes, I want to restart my computer now’ and click ‘Finish’ to

restart your computer.

9. A new icon will appear at lower-right corner of your computer desktop,

you can put the mouse cursor on the icon, and the status of wireless
card will be displayed.

10. 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 Utilities’ to start configuration program.

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

HERE!

2-2 Connect to Wireless Access Point

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

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 Utilities’.

2. Configuration utility will scan for all wireless access points

automatically. Scan results will be displayed here, please check if the
wireless access point with the SSID (the name of wireless access point)
you preferred is shown here.

If the wireless access point you wish to connect does not show here,
please click ‘Rescan’ to try 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 sometimes.

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 ‘Troubleshoot ing’.

Here are descriptions of every setup item:

SSID: The Service Set IDentifier of wireless access point

or other network device. You can think it as the
name of access point of wireless device.

BSSID: The MAC address of wireless access point or other

network device. Unlike SSID, BSSID of every access
point or network device is unique, and will not be
the same with others. So you can identify a single
access point or wireless device from others by
BSSID, if they all have the same SSID.

Signal: Shows the signal strength of ac cess point or wireless

device. Larger number means better radio strength,

which often means you’re not too far from that
access point or wireless device.

Channel: Shows the channel number that access point or

wireless device uses.

Encryption: Shows the encryption method that access point or

wireless device uses. If the wireless access point
does not enable encryption, you’ll see ‘None’
displayed here.

Authentication: Shows the authentication mode that access point or

wireless device uses. If the wireless access point
does not require authentication, you’ll see
‘Unknown’ displayed here.

Network Type: Shows the type of wireless connection. If it’s a

wireless access point, ‘Infrastructure’ will be
displayed here; if it’s a computer or network device,
‘AdHoc’ will be displayed here.

Tips:
Wireless access point (Infrastructure) is a network device which
acts as a bridge, to let wired and wireless network devices
communicate with each other.

AdHoc is another connection type. A computer or network device
can build a direct wireless link with other computer or network
device directly, without the help of wireless access point.

3. 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 enable encryption (The
content of ‘Encryption’ field of the access point you selected is ‘None’,
you’ll be connected to this wireless access point within one minute.
Please jump to step 6.

If the access point you selected enables encryption, please proceed to
next step.

4. If the wireless access point does not have SSID, you’ll be prompted to

input it here. Please ask the owner of wireless access point and input
the exact SSID 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.

If the wireless access point you selected have SSID, please skip this
step.

5. If the wireless access point uses encryption, you have to input WEP

passphrase or WPA Preshared key. Please ask the owner of the
wireless access point you want to connect, and input the correct
passphrase / preshared key here, then click ‘OK’. If the value you
inputted here is wrong, you will not be able to connect to this wireless
access point.

Authentication type is selected automatically, please don’t change it.

If the access point you selected does not enable encryption and does
not require authentication, please skip this step.

6. You’ll see ‘Connected <-> SSID’ (‘SSID’ is the SSID of the wireless

access point or wireless device you connected to) message displayed
at lower-left corner of configuration utility, congratulations, you’re
successfully connected to the access point or wireless device you
selected!

7. 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.

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. 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.

3. Click ‘Connect to a network’ under ‘Network and Sharing Center’

4. 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’.

5. 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’.

6. 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.

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

computer and wireless access point is successfully established.

2-3 Connection 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 you want to connect to a specific
wireless access point.

2-3-1 Make a profile for an access point or wireless device

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

corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’.

2. There are two ways to add a new connection profile:

Create a new profile,
or
Add a profile from an existing wireless access point or wireless device

If you want to click new profile, click ‘Profile’ tab, then click ‘Add’
button: