National Datacomm 0610S02 Users manual

PCI/PC Card

11Mbps Wireless LAN

User’s Guide

National Datacomm Corporation

High Speed

P/N: 85-506300-10

Rev. X1

March 2000

4F, No. 24-2, Industry East 4th road
Science Park, Hsin-Chu

Taiwan, R.O.C.

Technical Support

E-mail: [e-mail]

NDC World Wide Web

www.ndc.com.tw

TRADEMARKS

NDC and InstantWave are trademarks of NDC Communications, Inc. All other
names mentioned in this document are trademarks/registered trademarks of their
respective owners.

NDC provides this document “as is, ” without warranty of any kind, neither
expressed nor implied, including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. NDC
may make improvements and/or changes in this manual or in the product(s) and/or
the program(s) described in this manual at any time. This document could include
technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.

FCC WARNING

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B
Digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the 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:

Ÿ Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
Ÿ Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver
Ÿ Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which

the receiver is connected

Ÿ Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help
You are cautioned that changes or modifications not expressly approved by the

party responsible for compliance could void your authority to operate the
equipment.

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

ii InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card

Packing List

The package contents vary depending on whether you have purchased the PCI
Card, or the PC Card version:

The PCI Card package should contain the following items:

• One PCI Card

• One Antenna

• One CD ROM (Windows Driver and Utility program)

• One Diskette for Windows NT

• This User’s Guide

The PC Card package should contain the following items:

• One PC Card

• One CD ROM (Windows Driver and Utility program)

• One Diskette for Windows NT

• This User’s Guide

InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card iii

Table Of Contents

11MBPS WIRELESS LAN ..............................................................................................I

INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................2

INSTANTWAVE FAMILY...................................................................................................2

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS..................................................................................................2

Hardware Platform......................................................................................................2

Software Environment................................................................................................2

GLOSSARY..........................................................................................................................3

GETTING STARTED.......................................................................................................6

HARDWARE INSTALLATION.............................................................................................6

PCI Card Installation.................................................................................................6

PC Card Installation...................................................................................................6

LEDS...................................................................................................................................7

DRIVER INSTALLATION/UNINSTALLATION...................................................................8

Installation in Windows 95........................................................................................8

Uninstalling the Adapter from Windows 95..........................................................11

Installation in Windows 98......................................................................................12

Uninstalling the Adapter from Windows 98..........................................................13

Installation in Windows NT 4.0...............................................................................14

Uninstalling the Adapter from Windows NT 4.0 ..................................................15

THE INSTANTWAVE WINDOWS UTILITY PROGRAM...............................16

INSTANTWAVE U TILITY INSTALLATION ..................................................................... 16

UNINSTALLING THE U TILITY PROGRAM......................................................................17

SOFTWARE UPGRADE PROCEDURES ............................................................... 18

TROUBLESHOOTING.................................................................................................19

WINDOWS 95/98..............................................................................................................19

Installation Problems................................................................................................19

WINDOWS NT 4.0............................................................................................................20

Installation Problems................................................................................................20

G ENERAL.......................................................................................................................... 21

Utility Error Messages..............................................................................................21

Operational Problems...............................................................................................21

TECHNICAL SUPPORT..............................................................................................23

NDC LIMITED WARRANTY.....................................................................................24

iv InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card

INDEX.................................................................................................................................27

InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card v

vi InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card

Introduction

Congratulations on choosing an InstantWave wireless networking family product.
InstantWave was designed with a “Maximizing the convenience of networking”
philosophy in mind. You will find InstantWave very easy to configure and use.

This User’s Guide gives comprehensive instructions on installing and using the
InstantWave High Speed PCI and PC Cards, and also explains how to install and
use the InstantWave Utility Program.

InstantWave Family

The InstantWave PCI and PC Card are part of the InstantWave family of easy to
use high performance wireless communication products. The family products
include:

• InstantWave High Speed PC Card (NWH610)

• InstantWave High Speed PCI Card (NWH630)

• InstantWave High Speed Access Point (NWH660)

System Requirements

Hardware Platform

A station must be an x86 compatible PC with a PCI bus or PCMCIA interface.
The minimum system configuration is the same as that required to run MS
Windows (Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0).

Software Environment

The stations operate in conjunction with most of the MS Windows (Windows 95,
98, NT 4.0), Novell NetWare series.

2 InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card

Glossary

Server

Wired Computers
Access Point

Wireless Computers (PCI/PC Card)

Wireless Stations

Wireless Network

In the IEEE 802.11b definition, a wireless network is classified as an Ad-Hoc
network or an Infrastructure network.

Ad-Hoc Network

An Ad-Hoc network is formed by a number of wireless stations (without an Access
Point) communicating via radio waves. For the users, the shared resources on the
wireless network appear exactly as they would on a regular wired network. The
wireless operation of the network is totally transparent. Figure 1 depicts a typical
Ad-Hoc network scenario.

FIGURE 1. AN AD-HOC NETWORK

Infrastructure Network

An Infrastructure network is formed by several stations and one Access Point(AP),
with the stations within range of the AP. Figure 2 depicts a typical Infrastructure
network topology.

FIGURE 2. AN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK

InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card 3

Group ID/BSSID

Access Point

Server

Wireless

A Group ID (the 802.11b standard uses the term BSSID) is the ID of a wireless cell.
A wireless cell is usually made up of stations in an area that the radio signal can
comfortably cover. In other words, any wireless station in the cell can
communicate with any other within reach of the radio signal (Figure 3) .

Stations

FIGURE 3. A WIRELESS CELL (G ROUP)

Domain Name/ESSID

A domain is usually defined by the network administrator as a segment/subnet of a
large network and may be made up of overlapping wireless cells. Wireless nodes
can roam freely within the same domain without disconnecting from the network.
Figure 4 depicts a common wireless network setup.

Access Point

FIGURE 4. ROAMING IN THE SAME DOMAIN

Roaming

The convenience of a mobile PC is the ability to move freely. The concept is
similar to that of a cellular phone moving from one base station to another.
InstantWave offers built-in high performance seamless roaming capabilities.

Carrier Set

InstantWave products use the unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) band
to communicate through radio waves. Different countries offer different radio
frequencies to be used as the ISM band. There are four frequency bands defined
by 802.11b: Japan (2.471GHz – 2.497 GHz), USA, Canada, and Europe (2.4
GHz – 2.4835 GHz), Spain (2.445 GHz – 2.475 GHz), France (2.4465 GHz –

2.4835 GHz). If a user wants to use InstantWave in a country not listed above,
he/she needs to check with their government ’s regulating body to find the correct
frequency band to use. All InstantWave products are supplied preset to the country
of sale’s frequency band.

4 InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card

Access Point

An Access Point (AP) provides a transparent bridged connection between a wired
network and a wireless network and allows wireless stations to communicate with
devices attached to a wired network.

It manages the flow of data packets from the wired LAN to the Wireless LAN and
vice versa.

InstantWave High Speed PCI/PC Card 5