Netgear orporated WG511 User Manual

Installation Guide for the Model WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card

NETGEAR, Inc.

4401 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA

Technical Support

Please refe r to the support information card that shipped wi th 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

Statem ent of Condit ions

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

December 2002

Chapter 1 - Introduction

About the WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card .........................................1

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

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

Chapter 2 - Installing the WG511 802.11g 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

WG511 Default Wireless Configuration Settings ......................................6

Using the WG511 to Connect to a Wireless Access Point Network in

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

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

For Windows XP Users Installing a WG511 ......................................8

For Windows 98/Me Users Installing a WG511 ...............................11

For Windows 2000 Users Installing a WG511 .................................14

Using the WG511 to Connect in Ad-Hoc Mode ......................................17

WG511 Wireless Connection Indicators .................................................18

Interpreting the LED on the WG511 ................................................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

About the WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card

The WG511 802.11g W ire less PC Card gi ves you ultima te mobili ty in your of fice 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 capabi li ty all ows the highes t pack et tr ansfer or dynamic range shifting to the lower speeds due to distance or operating limitations in an environment with a lot o f electromagnetic interference.

WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card.

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

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

Key Features and Related NETGEAR Products

The WG511 PC Card provides the following features:

• Reliable IEEE 802.11g 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 WG511 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:

• WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card

• Installation Guide for the Model WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card

• Model WG511 Resource CD, including: — Driver and Configuration Utility Software — Reference Guide for the Model WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card in

Adobe Acrobat PDF file format

— Reference Guide for the Model WG511 802.11g 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 cart on, incl uding the ori ginal packi ng mater ials, in cas e you nee d to return the product for repair.

The WG511 80 2.1 1 g Wireless PC Card has two inte rface s. The PCMCIA Type II connector connects to any notebook PC with an available PCMCIA or CardBus slot. The wireless interface of the WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card remains outside of t he notebook PC chassis when the wireless PC card is inserted in to a notebook. The green LED indicates the wireless link condition of the WG511

802.11g Wireless PC Card with another wireless node or the associated access

point.

Chapter 2

Installing the

WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card

This section describes how to set up your WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card for wireless connectivity on your Wireless Local Area Network

Note: Indoors, computers can c onnect over 802.11 wir eless n etwo rks 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 se cure your network f rom unauthor ized acc ess. The WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card provides highly effective security features which are co vered in Secti on 3 of this man ual. Netgear s trongly recommends you deploy th e secur ity fea tures appropr iate t o your need s.

(WLAN).

What You Will Need Before You Begin

You need to verify your computer meets the minimum system requirements and identify the wire le ss n etwork configuration s ettings of the WLAN where you wi l l connect before you can configure your wireless pc card and connect.

Verify System Requirements

Before installing the WG511 802.11g 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 insta llation files to complete t he installatio n of the WG511 driver software.

Observe Location and Range Guidelines

Computers can connect over 802.11g wireless networks indoors at a maximum range of approximatel y 500 feet . However , the operat ing dist ance or range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the physical location of the computer with the WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card. For best results, avoid potential s ources of interference, such as:

• Large metal surfaces

• Microwaves

• 2.4 GHz Cordless phones

In general, 802.11g wireless device s can co mmunica te thr ough wal ls. Howeve r, if the walls are cons truct ed wit h conc rete, or have metal, or met al mes h, the 802.11g effective range will decrease if such materials are between the devices.

Two Basic Operating Modes

The WG511 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 at tached to a r outer which l ets mul tiple co mputers 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 fi le and pr int sharing enable d and y ou wan t t o exc h ang e fi le s directly between them.

Both of these configuration options are available with the WG511 PC Card.

access

WG511 Default Wireless Configuration Settings

If this is a ne w wi re less network inst al la ti on, use the factory default setti ngs to set up the network and verify wireless connectivity. If this is an addition to an existing wireless ne twork, you wil l need to id entify th e wireles s configurat ion and security parameters already defined.

Note: All NETGEAR, Inc. 802.11 wireless access products use the same factory settings as the WG511 and will work without any configuration changes.

Your WG511 802.11g Wireless PC Card factory default basic settings are:

• Wireless network name Service Set Identification (SSID): Wireless Note: In order for t he WG511 PC Card t o communic ate with a wirele ss acc ess

point or wireless adapter, all devices must be configured with the same SSID.

• Mode (Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc): Infrastructure

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