Acer IEEE 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter manual

1 IEEE 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter User’s Guide Version: 3.0 — August 2001[...]

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1 Copy right Statement No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, w hether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherw ise without the prior writing of the publisher. W indows 95/98 and W indow s 2000 are trademarks of Microsoft C orp. Pentium is trademark[...]

2 Table of Contents 1. Welcome……………………………………………………………4 1.1 Kit Conten ts ................................................................................ 5 1.2 Main Feature of WLAN USB A dapter ....................................... 7 1.3 Wireless Netw orkin g Scenarios ................................[...]

3 5. Specifications……………………………………………………..50 5.1 Phys ical Specifications ............................................................. 50 5.2 Available C hanne ls in Each C ountry ........................................ 51 5.3 Netw orking Complian t Standards ............................................. 52 [...]

4 1. Welcome Thank you for purchasing our IEEE802.11b W ireless LAN USB Adapter, and welcome to W ireless LAN— the easy way to wireless netw orking. This user guide introduces to you the IEEE802.11b USB Adapter and describes the most common configurations, which w ill help you connect to your netw ork easily. Please read this manual to get famili[...]

5 1.1 Kit Contents The IEEE802.11b USB W ireless LAN kit should include the follow ing items: a. 1 USB Adapter b. 1 USB Cable.[...]

6 c. 1 CD including: 1. IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility & Driver software 2. Acrobat Reader 4.05 3. User Manual PDF f ile d. Quick Start Guide e. The Us er’s Manual (this docum ent) If any of the items mentioned above are damaged or missing, please contact your distributor.[...]

7 1.2 Main Feature of WLAN USB A dapter A. Power O N/OFF LED B. Status LED ! Off : No wi reless activity ! Blinking: Sens ing/transmitting wireless data ! Solid Yellow Green: Standard oper ational mode C. USB Connector[...]

8 USB W LAN Adapter features: 1. High-speed wireless c onnection, up to 11 Mbps 2. IEEE802.11b (DSSS) st andard for 2.4 GHz W ireless LAN 3. Plug-and-Play installation 4. Solid design with an integrated antenna 5. Full m obility and seamles s cell-to-c ell roaming 6. Automatic scale back at per packet level USB W LAN Adapter suppor ts: 1. Automa ti[...]

9 1.3 Wireless Netw orking Scenarios As our IEEE802.11b USB Adapter is interoperable and compatible w ith other IEEE 802.11b compliant products from other manufacturers, it offers you the most freedom to establish your ideal wireless network. Therefore, after installing IEEE802.11b USB W ireless LAN, you can connect your computer to: a. A Peer-to-P[...]

10 A. Peer-to-Peer Networking: An Ad Hoc Network could be eas ily set up with s om e PCs and this IEEE802.11b USB W LAN USB Adapters or our other W LAN devices. Theref ore, it is very suitable to build a network for tem porary use, for exam ple, for new sales point/branc h, for demons tration in exhibition, and alike.[...]

11 B. Cooperate LAN (Local Area Netw orking): W ith some IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapters and Access Points, it is easy to construct a LAN w ith access to Internet for enterprise use. The construction is quite easy that W LAN card and Access Point will automatically w ork at the most suitable frequency when Access Point is set w ithin the proper rang[...]

12 1.4 A dv antages for Using Wireless Netw ork IEEE802.11b W ireless LAN can wirelessly transmit and receive data, minimizing the need for wired connections, at a speed of up to elev en megabit per second. W ith IEEE802.11b W ireless LAN y ou can locate your PC w herever you w ant without w ires and cables. IEEE802.11b W ireless LAN provides LAN u[...]

13 - Flexible Wor kgr oups and Lower Cos t : For work s pac es that are f requently reconf igured for tem porarily use such as demo in ex hibitions, wireless networking is easy to s et up of lower total cos t—and all equipments are r ecy clable. You do not have to remove the old wires and then build up the new ones again and again. - Networked Co[...]

14 2. Quick Start to Wireless Netw orking 1. Insert the ins tallation CD, and it w ill autom atically start the setup program for W LAN Utility and driver. 2. Follow the installation wizard to complete the software installation proces s , and then reboot your PC/notebook af ter the software ins tallation is done. (See P.19~23: Step 2~8)[...]

15 3. After restar ting y our PC/notebook, ins ert USB adapter into USB connector of the notebook or desk top. 4. Operation System will detect new device and prompt the driver automatic ally .[...]

16 5. Double click the shor tcut icon of W LAN USB, and then c heck the toolbar at the bottom of the scr een—there is a sm all icon to indicate the connection s tatus. Red color m eans no connection and green c olor means c onnected (If red color appears, please r epeat from s tep1). 6. Please choose “Infrastructure” mode and type “W LAN”[...]

17 7. Now y ou may enter “Internet Ex plorer” to surf the Internet. Freely without w ires[...]

18 3. Step-by -Step Installation Guide This section will lead y ou through the installation of USB Adapter and IEEE802.11b USB W LAN sof tware in details. People who are fam iliar with the installation and settings of wireless device may refer to quic k start guide f or to establish a network in a s nap. To es tablish y our wireless network connect[...]

19 3.1 Install the IEEE802.11b USB WLA N Utility / Driv er NOTE: Please install the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility / Driver fir st prior to inserting the IEEE802.11b W ireless LAN USB Adapter. 1. Insert the IEEE802.11b USB W ireless LAN installation CD into y our CD-ROM drive. T he setup program will then automatic ally start. 2. As the s etup progr[...]

20 3. Please s elect the applications you would like to install, and click “Next“. T o go on the installation, please select “Install IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Driver and Utility ” and then go on to Step 4. If you select “Browse User Manual“, system will prom pt a message to suggest you install the Acrobat Reader—pleas e go on to Step 7.[...]

21 4. The def ault destination folder is displayed in the setup dialog colum n. You m ay change the default folder by click ing “Browse“ to select the des tination folder you prefer. Click “ Next “ to go to the next scr een.[...]

22 5. Select the Program Folder for IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility and click “Next “. 6. Y ou will be asked if y ou wish to add an IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility shortcut to your desktop. C lick “ Yes “.[...]

23 7. The user m anual is publis hed in Portable Docum ent For m at (PDF). If Acrobat Reader does not exis t in y our system, the following m essage will be prom pted to autom atically enter the Acrobat Reader ins tallation screen. Please follow the instruc tions to complete the Acrobat Reader 4.05 installation. 8. T he Driver and Help files will b[...]

24 3.2 Install the USB A dapter NOTE: The IEEE802.11b USB W LAN driver and utility are included in the accompany ing installation CD. Pleas e follow the installation procedures in Section 3.1. (Your USB Adapter will not work properly if the driver and utilities are not inst alled correctly.) 1. After completing the soft ware installation, please co[...]

25 2. After c onnecting the USB Adapter to your PC/notebook , the setup will autom atically start. NOTE: If you are asked to ins ert a “Windows 98 CD-ROM“ during the installation, ins ert your “W indows 98 CD-ROM“ and click “Yes“. Once the setup tas k is completed, the “Microsoft Internet Ex plorer“ should star t up. Please close it[...]

26 3.3 IEEE802.11b USB WLA N Utility IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter has its own m anagement software, nam ed IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility, and us ers can control all f unctions provided with it. The Utility icon will appear in the task bar by click ing the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility shortcut on y our desk top. The Utility screen includes six tab[...]

27 3.3.1 Setting • Operating Mode: If y ou want to connect to an Access Point, pleas e set the mode as ”Infras tructure”. If y ou have more s tations and just want to set them as a local network, please set the Mode as ” Ad Hoc”. • Channel: It shows the radio channel num ber that is used f or networking. The Channel num ber mus t be the[...]

28 • MAC Address: It displays the MAC address of y our IEEE802.11b USB devic e, and the param eter cannot be changed. • Other inf ormation: The Signal Strength and Link Quality w ill be s hown in the sc reen below under the Status of your USB adapter, • Status: If you set the operation mode as “Ad Hoc“, the Status colum n will show the ?[...]

29 3.3.2 Statistics • The f ollowi ng scr een shows various statistic s including the Data Pack ets, Management Pack ets and Rejected Pac kets in transm itting and receiving status. • You can click the “Clear” button to reset the s tatistics data.[...]

30 3.3.3 Site Surv ey • The scr een shows the m essages of all the Access Points within the com munication range of your IEEE 802.11b USB Adapter. The m essages include BSSID, SSID, Signal, the Channel used by each AP, and the Encry ption status (enabled or not). • You can click the Rescan button to search the new AP. • You can double-click t[...]

31 3.3.4 Encry ption You may enhance the security level of wireless network by enabling the Encryption function. • W EP Key to use: You can choose one of the f our Key s you ty ped (Key1~Key 4) as the W EP Key. • W EP Mode: If y ou set the Mode Optional, y our device can c om m unicate with the stations with disabled W EP. Otherwise, if you set[...]

32 ! Caution: W EP Key needs to be the same for all IEEE802.11b stations. Follow the steps below to set your W EP: (1) Select the Encryption ty pe: 64bit or 128bit. (2) T y pe W EP Key: If y ou select 64bit, y ou must type 10 values in the following range ( 0~F) from Key 1 to Key 4 space. Besides , if y ou select 128bit, y ou mus t ty pe 26 values [...]

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34 3.3.5 A dv anced • The s creen shows the advanced setting of the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility, and it includes Pream ble Ty pe, Fragm entation Threshold, and RT S / CTS T hreshold. W e suggest using the def ault settings—Pream ble Type: Long. • You may change the Preamble T y pe by ticking the two options: “Long” or “Shor t”. • [...]

35 • After adj usting the settings, please clic k on the “Subm it” button to save all the settings.[...]

36 3.3.6 Version • The scr een shows the version of Driver , Firmware, and Application for IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility / Driver.[...]

37 3.4 Remove y our USB A dapter If you do not need the wi reless connectivity of your IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter, you can unplug and rem ove y our USB adapter directly. ! Caution: W hen rem oving the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter, you will lose y our connection to the network. Mak e s ur e you have closed all files and network applications (s u[...]

38 3.5 Uninstall the IEEE802.11b USB WLA N Utility / Driv er If you do not need the wi reless connectivity of your IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter… 1. Firs t y ou s hould disconnect and rem ove the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter. (See 3.4) 2. To unins tall the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility and Driver , please follow the proc ess as follows: Start Ma[...]

39 3. Y ou will be asked if y ou ar e sure to uninstall the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Utility and all of its components. Clic k “ Y es “ to run the un-installation or click “ No “ to exit. 4. Now the un-installation is completed. Pleas e click “ Finish “.[...]

40 4. Netw ork A pplication This section consists of the netw ork applications of IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter, including: ! How to Survey the network neighborhood ! How to Share Y our Folder with Your N etwork M ember(s) ! How to Share Y our Printer with Your N etwork M ember(s) ! How to Access the Shared Folder(s)/File(s) of Your Netw ork Member[...]

41 4.1 Survey ing the Netw ork Neighborhood W hen m u ltiple base s tations are up and r unning in your wireless network, you can use the procedur e described below to display the other com puters: 1. Start W indows Explor er. 2. Scroll down the list of files and folder s to look for the item Network Neighborhood. 3. Double-click the Network Neighb[...]

42 ! Powered up and logged on to the network. ! Configur ed to operate wi th identical Micr osoft Network settings concerning: $ Networking Pr otocol. $ W ireless Network Nam e. To enable the s haring of Internet acces s, y ou should set your IEEE802.11b USB W LAN m ode as “ Inf r astr uc ture“ and c onnect to the access point. W hen the proced[...]

43 4.2 Fil e Shar i ng in Micr osoft Wi ndows 98 IEEE802.11b USB W LAN allows the sharing of files between com puters that are logged onto the sam e wireless network. If y ou want to share your folder “My Documents“ with other com puters of the wireless network , please follow the steps below: 1. First, locate the f older “My Documents“ and[...]

44 3. Selec t “Shared As“ to open your folder f or file sharing. Y ou can also s elect and define the level of ac cess for y our folder. • If “Read-Only “ is s elected, the other users in the wireless network can only copy files from y our f older. Neither copying files into your folder nor any change of f iles is allowed. • If “F ull[...]

45 4. Click “Apply“ or “ OK“ to ac tivate the options that y ou have set. Now y ou can see the f older “My Documents“ with a sm all hand under it. The f older is now open for f ile sharing. Sharing f iles in the IEEE802.11b wireless network will be like sharing f iles on a wired LAN.[...]

46 4.3 Printer Shar ing in Window s 98 In order to shar e y our printer with other stations of the sam e across the netw ork , y ou have to s et it as a network printer—the instruc tions are as follows: 1. Click the “ Star t “ button, point to the “ Settings “, and then click “ Printers “. 2. In the Printers window, click the printer [...]

47 4. Click the Sharing tab, and then click “ Shared As“. If necess ary , enter a password.[...]

48 4.4 Using the Shared Folder If you would like to access a shared folder s tored in other stations of sam e network, please f ollow the process below: 1. Double-click the “Network Neighbor hood“ icon, and then double-click the com puter where the shared folder is located. 2. Double- click the f older y ou want to connect to. 3. Now you may op[...]

49 4.5 Using the Shared Netw ork printer To us e the shared network printer( s), please r efer to the following process : 1. In the “Network Neighborhood“, locate and double-c lick the com puter where the printer y ou want to use is located. 2. Double-c lick the printer icon in the wi ndow . 3. T o set up the printer, follow the instr uctions o[...]

50 5. Specifications 5.1 Phy sical Specifications Dimens ions (L x W x H) 120 X 77 x 25m m W eight 80g Host Interf ace USB 1.1 Compliant Antenna Internal Patch Antenna Supporting Diversit y Status Indicator LED (Indicates RF /Link Activity)[...]

51 5. 2 Av ailabl e Channels in Each Country[...]

52 5.3 Netw orking Compl i ant Standar ds Standard IEEE802.11b W i-Fi Com pliment Host Systems W indows98/2000/Me,CE Medi a Acce ss Protocol CSMA/CA with ACK Network Protocol T CP / IP, IPX , NetBEUI[...]

53 5.4 Operating Specifications Frequency Band 2.400 ~ 2.4835GHz (subject to loc al regulations) Number of Channel: USA and Canada -11 Most Franc e -4 European countries - 13 Operating Voltage: 5V Spreading: DSSS (Direc t Sequence Spread Spectrum ) Date rate: 11Mbps, 5.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 1Mbps Nominal T emp Range: 17 dBm Trans mit Power: Extended Temp R[...]

54 Receive Sens itivity : Nominal Temp Range: -1 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 90 dBm, mi ni mum -5.5 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 87 dBm, mi ni mum -11 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 84 dBm, mi ni mum Extended Temp Range: -1 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 84 dBm, mi ni mum -5.5 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 81 dBm, mi ni mum -11 Mbps 10-5 BER @ - 78 dBm, mi ni mum Modulation: 11 Mbps and 5.5 Mbps CCK; 2 Mbp[...]

55 Roaming: Full m obility and seamles s roaming from cell to cell and ac ross acces s points (subj ect to access point) Management Utility: Link Config for netw ork join and diagnostics EMC certific ation: FCC part 15 clas s in US, ET SI 300.328 and CE EMC-EEC in Europe W arranty: 1 year, optional 3 y ears[...]

56 6. Troubleshooting If y ou encounter som e problem s while installing the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter or y ou want to confirm whether the USB Adapter is installed properly or not, please r efer to the procedure below after you have installed the USB Adapter.[...]

57 6.1 Check the Various Properties of the Card To ver ify if the driver has been s et in y our computer properly, y ou can follow the proc edures below. • Right-click “My Computer“ and then s elect “Properties“ ; then y ou will enter y our system properties . Select the Device Manager and clic k the Netw ork Adapter. You will find the IE[...]

58 • If there is a Question- mark (?) or an Exclam ation-mark (!) in y ellow on y our IEEE802.11b USB W LAN Adapter in the previous picture, please m ake s ure y ou have inserted the right USB Adapter, and installed the proper driver and utility as well. If y ou are not sure, you may follow the procedure below to reinstall (update) the driver . a[...]

59 6.2 Mi crosoft Netw orking Checklist In order to r un the IEEE802.11b USB W LAN properly, some network items m ust be presented in the Micr osoft “Network Neighborhood“ setup. T o check and activate the network setup, right-clic k the “Network Neighborhood“ and select “Properties” . The f ollow i ng item s should be presented in the [...]

60 Set up the Netw ork Protocols : • Refer to the pic ture above—Click “Add“ button to enter the windows display ed below.[...]

61 • Click “Add“ and then choose the netw ork protocol. Select Microsof t as the manuf acturer and pick “NetBEUI“, “TCP/IP“ , and “IPX/SPX -compatible“ for the network pr otocols. After all, click “OK“. • Now y our netw ork protocol should be set. Please c heck if y our network needs any special requirem ents to operate in y[...]

62 Netw ork Service for Microsoft Netw orking: • Click “Add“ and select “Ser vice“.[...]

63 • Select “Micros of t“ as the m anuf ac turer and choos e “ File and printer shar ing for Microsof t Networks“ f or network servic e; • Click “ O K “ to set the netw ork s erv ice.[...]

64 6.3 Others A dditional Note f or Wi ndow s 98 earlier edi t i on If y our system is running W indows 98 first edition, you may use one of the following way s to mak e IEEE 802.11b W LAN Utility work proper ly . 1. Copy and replace the file MFC42.dll f rom c:window ssy stem of W indows 98SE to the s ame direc tory of y our W indows 98 first edi[...]

65 Regulatory Information The manufacturer is not responsible for any radio or telev ision interference caused by unauthorized modification of this dev ice or the substitution or attachment of connecting cables and equipment other than specified. The correction of interference caused by such unauthorized modification, substitution or attachment w i[...]

66 USA – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) This equipment has been tested and f ound to comply with the lim its for Clas s B Digital Devices, pur suant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. T hese limits ar e designed to provide reasonable protection against harm ful interference in a r esidential installation. This equipment generates, us es and ca[...]

67 Canada – Industr y Canada (IC) This class B digital apparatus m eets all requirem ents of the Canadian Interfer ence Causing Equipment Regulations . EU Declaration of Conformity (Europe) USB adapter conf orms to the s pecifications lis ted below , following the provisions of the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC and the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC [...]

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