Netgear orporated MA401RD Revised Manual

Installation Guide for the Model MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

NETGEAR, Inc.

4401 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA

Technical Support

Please refer to the support information card that shipped with your product.

By registering your product at www.NETGEAR.com/register

, we can provide you with faster expert technical support and timely notices of product and software upgrades.

NETGEAR, INC. Support Information Phone: 1-888-NETGEAR (For US & Canada only) For other countries see your Support information card. E-mail: Support@NETGEAR.com Web site: www.NETGEAR.com

Statement of Conditions

In the interest of improving internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document without notice.

NETGEAR does not assume any liability that may occur due to the use or application of the product(s) or circuit layout(s) described herein.

©2002 NETGEAR, Inc. NETGEAR, the Netgear logo, The Gear Guy and Everybody's Connecting are trademarks or registered trademarks of Netgear, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved

November 2002

Chapter 1 - Introduction

About the MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card ..........................................1

Key Features and Related NETGEAR Products ......................................1

What’s in the Box? ...................................................................................2

Chapter 2 - Installing the MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

What You Will Need Before You Begin ....................................................4

Verify System Requirements .............................................................5

Observe Location and Range Guidelines ..........................................5

Two Basic Operating Modes ....................................................................5

MA401 Default Wireless Configuration Settings ......................................6

Using the MA401 to Connect to a Wireless Access Point Network in

Infrastructure Mode ..................................................................................7

Setup Instructions ....................................................................................8

For Windows XP Users Installing a MA401 .......................................8

For Windows 98/Me Users Installing a MA401 ................................ 11

For Windows 2000 Users Installing a MA401 ..................................14

Using the MA401 to Connect in Ad-Hoc Mode ......................................17

MA401 Wireless Connection Indicators .................................................18

Interpreting the LED on the MA401 .................................................18

Interpreting System Tray Icon Colors ..............................................19

Troubleshooting Tips ..............................................................................20

Chapter 3 - Protecting Your Wireless Connection

Enabling Basic Wireless Security Features ...........................................21

Identifying the Wireless Network Name (SSID) and WEP Security

Settings ............................................................................................22

Setting the Wireless Network Name (SSID) ....................................23

Configuring WEP Encryption Security .............................................23

Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the features, package contents, and appearance of the NETGEAR

MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card.

About the MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

The MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card gives you ultimate mobility in your office or while you are traveling. It frees you from traditional Ethernet wiring and helps you create a wireless network for sharing your broadband cable or DSL Internet access among multiple PCs in and around your home. It is designed for notebook computers running Microsoft CardBus compatible and works in any available PCMCIA or CardBus slot. Its auto-sensing capability allows packet transfer at 11 Mbps for maximum throughput, or dynamic range shifting to the lower speeds due to distance or operating limitations in an environment with a lot of electromagnetic interference.

It provides reliable, standards-based 802.11b LAN connectivity that is protected with industry-standard security. It works with Windows 95B, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, and XP operating systems.

Windows®. It is both 16-bit PCMCIA and 32-bit

Key Features and Related NETGEAR Products

The MA401 PC Card provides the following features:

• Reliable IEEE 802.11b standard-based wireless technology.

• Supports roaming between access points when configured in Infrastructure

mode.

• 11 Mbps high rate speed. Wireless nodes negotiate to operate in the optimal

data transfer rate. In a noisy environment or when the distance between the wireless nodes is far, the wireless nodes automatically fall back to operate at the lower transfer rate of two or one Megabit per second.

• Highest level of data encryption using128-bit Shared Key WEP data

encryption method. Lower level of data encryption or no data encryption is available to simplify your network setup or to improve data transfer rate.

The following Netgear products can be configured to communicate with the MA401 PC Card.

• WAB102 Dual Band Access Point

• WAB501 Dual Band PC Card

• MA101 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter

• ME102 802.11b Wireless Access Point

• MA311 802.11b Wireless PCI Adapter

• MR314 802.11b Wireless Cable/DSL Router

• MA701 802.11b Wireless Compact Flash Card

What’s in the Box?

The product package should contain the following items:

• MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

• Installation Guide for the Model MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

• Model MA401 Resource CD, including:

— Driver and Configuration Utility Software — Reference Guide for the Model MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card in

Adobe Acrobat PDF file format

— Reference Guide for the Model MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card in

HTML format

• Warranty card

• Support information card

If any of the parts are incorrect, missing, or damaged, contact your NETGEAR dealer. Keep the carton, including the original packing materials, in case you need to return the product for repair.

The Model MA401 Wireless PC Card has two interfaces. The 16-bit PCMCIA Type II connector connects to any notebook PC with an available PCMCIA or CardBus slot. The wireless interface of the MA401 Wireless PC Card remains outside of the notebook PC chassis when the wireless PC card is inserted into a notebook. The green LED indicates the wireless link condition of the MA401 Wireless PC Card with another wireless node or the associated access point.

Chapter 2

Installing the

MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

This section describes how to set up your MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card for wireless connectivity on your Wireless Local Area Network

Note: Indoors, computers can connect over 802.11 wireless networks at a maximum range of up to 500 feet. With this distance, and because walls do not always block wireless signals, others outside your immediate area could access your network. It is important to take appropriate steps to secure your network from unauthorized access. The MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card provides highly effective security features which are covered in Section 3 of this manual. Netgear strongly recommends you deploy the security features appropriate to your needs.

What You Will Need Before You Begin

(WLAN).

You need to verify your computer meets the minimum system requirements and identify the wireless network configuration settings of the WLAN where you will connect before you can configure your wireless pc card and connect.

Verify System Requirements

Before installing the MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card, please make sure that these minimum requirements have been met:

• You must have a Pentium® Class notebook computer with an available

PCMCIA or Cardbus slot.

•A CD-ROM drive.

• 5 Mbytes of free hard disk space.

• Some versions of Windows may ask for the original Windows operating

system installation files to complete the installation of the MA401 driver software.

Observe Location and Range Guidelines

Computers can connect over 802.11b wireless networks indoors at a maximum range of approximately 500 feet. However, the operating distance or range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the physical location of the computer with the MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card. For best results, avoid potential sources of interference, such as:

• Large metal surfaces

•Microwaves

• 2.4 GHz Cordless phones

In general, 802.11b wireless devices can communicate through walls. However, if the walls are constructed with concrete, or have metal, or metal mesh, the 802.11b effective range will decrease if such materials are between the devices.

Two Basic Operating Modes

The MA401 PC Card, like all 802.11b adapters, can operate in the following two basic modes:

• Infrastructure Mode: An 802.11 networking framework in which devices

and computers communicate with each other by first going through an point (AP).

For example, this mode is used when computers in a house connect to an Access Point that is attached to a router which lets multiple computers share a single Cable or DSL broadband Internet connection.

• Ad-Hoc Mode: An 802.11 networking framework in which devices or

computers communicate directly with each other, without the use of an AP.

For example, Ad-Hoc Mode is used when two Windows computers are configured with file and print sharing enabled and you want to exchange files directly between them.

Both of these configuration options are available with the MA401 PC Card.

access

MA401 Default Wireless Configuration Settings

If this is a new wireless network installation, use the factory default settings to set up the network and verify wireless connectivity. If this is an addition to an existing wireless network, you will need to identify the wireless configuration and security parameters already defined.

Note: All NETGEAR, Inc. 802.11b wireless access products use the same factory settings as the MA401 and will work without any configuration changes.

Your MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card factory default basic settings are:

• Wireless network name Service Set Identification (SSID): Wireless

Note: In order for the MA401 PC Card to communicate with a wireless access point or wireless adapter, all devices must be configured with the same SSID.

• Mode (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc): Infrastructure

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