NETGEAR WAG511 User guide
User's Guide
Dual Band Wireless PC Card
32-bit CardBus WAG511
Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of NETGEAR WAG511 802.11a/b/g Dual Band Wireless
PC Card. With the flexibility to operate at both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands, the
WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card can communicate with other mobile devices enabled
for IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g standards-based wireless LAN connectivity. You can
use this card in conjunction with either an 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a, or an 802.11a+b+g
Wireless Access Point or router, to create a wireless network for sharing broadband cable or
DSL Internet access among multiple PCs in and around your home or office—at the amazing
speed of 54 Mbps or 108 Mbps in turbo mode!
Package Contents
The product package should contain:
• WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card.
• WAG511 GearBox™CD
• User’s guide
• Warranty card
• Support information card
System Requirements
Before installing the WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card, please make sure that your
computer system has the following:
• A computer with a 32-bit CardBus slot.
Please note that not all laptop or portable computer PC Card slots are CardBus, please
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Dual Band Wireless PC Card
32-bit CardBus WAG511
2.4/5 GHz•802.11a/b/g
WAG511 GearBox™ CD, User’s Guide
Warranty card, and
Support Information card
WAG511 Dual Band
Wireless PC Card
3. The Autostart Wizard screen will appear, as shown here:
4. Click the
Install Driver & Utility option.
5. If the Autorun wizard does not automatically start, go to your Windows Start menu and choose
Run, and type D:/Setup.exe (“D” represents your CD-ROM drive letter), and click OK.
6. The InstallShield Wizard screen will appear.
7. Click Next to continue.
check your computer’s reference guide for more details.
• Windows
®
98/ME/2000/XP (be sure to have the Windows Installation CD-ROM ready
for use during installation).
• At least 5 Megabytes disk space for installing the driver and utility programs.
LED Indicators
The Wireless Link LED on the WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card indicates the wireless
link condition of the station with another wireless node or the associated Access Point.
Installation
Install the WAG511 Driver and Utility Software
IMPORTANT NOTE: You must first install the software before you plug the card into
your computer!
Follow these steps to install the WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card.
1. Turn on your computer.
2. Insert the WAG511 Resource CD into the CD-ROM drive.
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1
2
LED Activity
Alternate Blinking
Meaning of LED Activity
Looking for a network association.
Associated or joined with the network; no activity.
Associated or joined with the network; activity on the network.
Slow-rate
Fast-rate
Install the WAG511 Wireless PC Card
1. With the LED indicators facing up, insert the
WAG511802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card into the CardBus
slot on your computer as shown here.
2. Windows will automatically detect the WAG511
802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card and the Found New
Hardware Wizard dialog box will appear.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver for the
WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card.
• For Windows 98/ME users, once the [Please insert the
disk labeled “Windows 98/ME CD-ROM,” and then click OK] window appears,
enter the path corresponding to the appropriate drives and click OK. Usually these
files can be found at C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System.
• For Windows 2000 users, a Digital Signature Not Found message may appear. Click
Yes to proceed.
• For Windows XP users, a Windows Logo Testing Not Found dialog box may appear.
Click Continue Anyway to proceed.
4. Click
Finish to complete the installation.
Verify Driver Installation
It is a good idea to confirm that the WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card has been
properly installed. Follow the instructions that apply to your computer system:
1. From the Windows desktop, right-click
My Computer.
2. Click Properties.
3. Open Device Manager:
Windows 98/ME users – Select the Device Manager folder tab.
Windows 2000/XP users – Select the Hardware folder tab, and click on the Device
Manager button.
8. The Choose Destination Location screen will display the default Destination Folder. If you
want to change the default folder, click Browse and choose a different destination folder.
9. Then, click
Next to continue to the next screen.
10. Modify the Program Folders field, if desired. Click Next to continue. InstallShield will
start copying files onto your system.
11. Click Finish to complete installing the Configuration Utility.
802.11a/b
Wireless Adapter
32-bit CardBus Model W
AB501
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Notebook with
WAG511 Dual Band
Wireless PC Card
Configuring the WAG511 Wireless
PC Card
NETGEAR’s wireless Configuration Utility program will help you learn more about your wireless
network, so that you can customize it to better suit your networking needs. The Configuration
Utility program will provide information about signal quality and link conditions and let you
modify various configurable wireless parameters.
Now that the WAG511 802.11a/b/g Wireless PC Card has been installed, you can use the NETGEAR
WAG511 Wireless Configuration Utility to view and customize configuration settings and features.
To display the NETGEAR WAG511 Wireless Configuration Utility:
• Open the NETGEAR WAG511 PC Card programs group or double-click the
WAG511 icon that appears in the Windows System Tray, as shown here:
• WAG511 Wireless PC Card\SysTray icon
To view or change your configuration settings:
• If you are using Windows 98/ME/2000, turn to page 11.
• If you are using Windows XP, turn to page 8.
About the WAG511 SysTray Application
The SysTray (System Tray) resides on one end of the taskbar in the Microsoft Windows Desktop.
It displays interface icons for memory-resident applications that execute continuously in the
background, such as the clock, speaker volume, and virus detection. The wireless Configuration
Utility installation for the WAG511 Wireless PC Card will add a configuration and status
reporting utility icon in your SysTray.
Once you have completed the utility installation, the Windows SysTray will show the icon in
different colors, as described here:
4. Double-click Network Adapters. There should be no yellow exclamation mark or red
cross icon on the NETGEAR WAG511 802.11a/b/g Dual Band Wireless PC Card
selection, as shown here:
5. Double-click
NETGEAR WAG511 802.11a/b/g Dual Band Wireless PC Card. On the
General folder tab, the Device Status window should indicate that the device is working
properly, as shown here:
The installation of the Wireless PC Card driver is complete.
2
2
Color
Red
Ad-Hoc Mode
The Wireless PC Card has
not initiated communication
with any other wireless node.
Infrastructure Mode
Either the Wireless PC Card is not able to link to
any Access Point, or the link between the Wireless
PC Card and the Access Point is lost.
The link condition between the Wireless PC Card
and the associated Access Point is weak.
The Wireless PC Card has established good
communication with an Access Point and the
signal is strong.
N/A
The Wireless PC Card has
communicated successfully
with another wireless node.
Yellow
Green
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2. The Windows XP Wireless Network Configuration window will be displayed and look
similar to this:
Click the
Advanced button.
3. The Wireless Networks Advanced Configuration window will be displayed.
4. Uncheck the option “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings.”
5. Click OK to save your changes.
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Double-click the Wireless Adapter SysTray icon to activate the wireless Configuration Utility
for the WAG511 Wireless PC Card. You can click any of the folder tabs in the NETGEAR
WAG511 Wireless Configuration Utility dialog box to view the current status or modify
operational parameters.
• For detailed information on wireless networking, refer to
Wireless Network Fundamentals, on page 18.
The WAG511 Configuration Utility contains six sections:
1 Status
2 Configuration
3 Security
4 Profile
5 Site Survey
6 Statistics
7 About
Note: The above sections are always available by clicking on the tab at the top of the
Configuration Utility window.
Configuration Note for Windows XP Users
By default, Windows XP uses its own utility to configure your wireless network settings,
however, in order to take advantage of the WAG511 features and functions, we recommend
that you use the NETGEAR WAG511 Wireless Configuration Utility program.
To disable Windows XP configuration utility and use the NETGEAR WAG511 Wireless
Configuration Utility, please follow these steps:
1. After installing the WAG511 Wireless PC Card, Windows XP will display a Wireless
Network Connection # message, similar to the one shown here:
Click anywhere on the message or on the icon.
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