Cisco Linksys WPC54A Wireless Network PC Card User Manual Revised Manual 2

Cisco-Linksys, LLC Wireless Network PC Card Revised Manual 2

Revised Manual 2

96You can change the order of the preferred networks by selecting the Wireless LAN Network thatyou want to reposition on the list, and then clicking Move up or Move down. You can change theWireless LAN Network connection settings of a preferred network by selecting the Wireless LANNetwork, clicking Properties, and then changing the settings as needed. To remove a WirelessLAN Network from the list of preferred networks, select the Wireless LAN Network that you want toremove, and then click Remove.
97If a network is not defined in the preferred networks list, but you know it is available and you wantto automatically connect to it, then click Advanced in the Wireless LAN Networks tab, and selectthe “Automatically connect to non-preferred networks” check box.
986. Windows NT 4.06.1 Driver installation and TCP/IP SetupWindows NT 4.0 does not support Plug-and-plug. Therefore, the 802.11a NDIS driver installationuses an approach that is different from the installation used in other Operating Systems. In orderto install 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter in Windows NT 4.0, a PC Card utility calledCardWizard is used. If your computer system does not have CardWizard utility pre-loaded thenyou can purchase it from SystemSoft Corporation (www.svstemsoft.com) or you can download a14-day evaluation copy from ftp://www.systemsoft.com/pub/Wn51tren.exe. Note that CardWizardrequires Windows NT 4.0 Build 1381 (Service Pack 6) installed in order to function correctly.Please install Service Pack 6 if your Windows NT 4.0 is not updatedAfter CardWizard utility is loaded, insert the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter into a 32-bitCardBus slot, and follow these steps to install the NDIS driver: 1.1. CardWizard will detect the insertion of the 802.11a CardBus card and show the followingscreen. Click Correct to Continue.
992. Click OK to continue.3. Windows NT 4.0 Network Properties windows displays. Click Add to continue.
1004. Click Have Disk.5. Manually enter the location of where the 802.11a NDIS 4.0 driver is located. For example,D:\NDIS\BIN\NDIS4. Click OK to continue.
1016. Make sure 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter is selected. Click OK to continue.7. Set Map Registers value to 256 (default value) and click Continue.
1028. Windows NT 4.0 binds TCP/IP protocol to 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapters andTCP/IP properties have to be entered. Depending on the type of network the stationconnects to, Gateway and DNS Configuration information may also be required. IPconfiguration information (DHCP or assigned IP address, Gateway and DNS server IPaddresses) is usually obtained from the corporate IT staff. For a simple demonstration, thestation is assigned a static 1P address. Choose "Specify an IP address" and enter an IPaddress and subnet mask. Assigning an IP address and subnet mask allows the station tointeract with the AP or other stations in the same IP subnet. Click OK to complete the TCP/IPconfiguration.
1039. Restart the system for the changes to take effect.6.2 Device ConfigurationConfiguration of the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter can be done through the 802.11aNIC Configuration Control Panel applet . Similar to Windows 2000, the device can be set to workin one of two modes, either infrastructure mode or ad hoc mode. See Section 2.4 for more detailson these network connection types.Start 802.11a NIC Configuration utility form the Control Panel.
104Select one of the configuration(s) under the configuration list and click Modify or click New andfollow the Section 6.2.1 and Section 6.2.2 to set up the station to work in infrastructure mode andad hoc mode.6.2.1 Infrastructure ModeThis section defines the process of configuring an 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter ininfrastructure mode. Refer to Section 2.4 for detailed descriptions of each option in the NetworkConfiguration Settings.1. Under the "General" tab, make sure the "Locally Administered Address" checkbox isunchecked. Use the following information as a guideline to choose the values of each field inthe configuration window: Configuration Name: This field identifies the configuration. This name must be unique.Configuration names are case insensitive. For example, "AP". Network Name (SSID): This is the name of the IEEE 802.1 la Wireless LAN Network.For example, "802.11apP". This field has a maximum limit of32 characters. If
105this field is left blank, the STA will connect to the AP with the best signal strength. Network Connection: AP (Infrastructure) Power Saving: This field allows the configuration of power management options. Theoptions are Off, Normal and Maximum. Turbo Mode: This field enables or disables 802.11a Turbo mode.
1062. Usually, infrastructure mode is used in an enterprise environment where APs are installedand maintained by corporate IT staff. Much of the data in the enterprise network isconfidential. It is important to configure security to make sure only stations with appropriatekeys can receive sensitive data. The 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter and NDISdriver support key lengths of 40-bits, 104-bits and 128-bits. Typically, the appropriateencryption and decryption keys will be supplied by the corporate IT staff.
1076.2.2 Ad Hoc ModeThis section defines the process of configuring an 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter in adhoc or IBSS mode. Refer to Section 2.4.2 for detail descriptions of ad hoc operation.1. Similar to the set up of AP Infrastructure mode described in the previous section, ad hocmode is also configured by changing the options in "Network Configuration Settings" window.Use the following information as a guideline to choose the values of each field in theconfiguration window: Configuration Name: This field identifies the configuration. This name must be unique.Configuration names are case insensitive. For example, "Ad Hoc". Network Name (SSID): A Network Name is mandatory for ad hoc mode. The SSID forall stations in a single ad hoc network must be the same. Network Connection: Ad Hoc. Power Saving: Power saving mode is not currently supported in an ad hoc network. Turbo Mode: All stations participating in the ad hoc network must have the same ratesetting. Locally Administered Address: This field defines the locally administered MAC address(LAA). To enter a value in the address field, the check box needs to be selected.
1082. You may optionally set up security features but it is not typically a requirement since theduration of the ad hoc network tends to be limited. Currently, only shared key security issupported in ad hoc mode. Future 802.11a software implementations will provide unique keysupport.3. In ad hoc mode, a station will scan the air for an existing Basic Service Set (BSS). If no BSSis found, the station will establish a BSS for other stations to join. When other stations scanthe air and find an established BSS in place, they join that BSS to form an ad hoc network. Ifa specific set of stations requires ad hoc network connectivity, it is recommended to haveone station establish a BSS first before configuring the remaining stations. This will preventthe scenario of several stations trying to form a BSS at the same time, which may result inmultiple singular BSSs being established rather than a single BSS with multiple stations.
1096.2.3 Verify ConnectionYou may use LinkMon utility to monitor the operating status of 802.11a Wireless LAN NetworkAdapter once the STA is connected. Please refer to Chapter 7 for descriptions of LinkMon utility. Ifthe STA is configured properly then you will be able to perform ping test as well as other networkapplications that a wired Ethernet device can perform.1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, and Command Prompt to open the Command promptwindow. Type "ipconfig" to determine if the TCP/IP configuration has taken effect. To test IPconnectivity in ad hoc or infrastructure mode, use the "ping <ipaddress>" command.2. To map the drive on another machine to your computer, right-click “My Computer” and click“Map Network Drive….”
1103. Specify the path of a network-shared folder.4. After mapping the drive, you can perform file transfers, video streaming, and all othernetwork data transfers that are normally performed with wired 10/100 Ethernet connections.
1116.2 driver Un-installationThis section provides uninstallation procedures for removing the 802.11a NDIS driver from thesystem.1. To remove the NDIS driver from the system, go to Control Panel and open Networkproperties.
1122. Under the Adapters tab, choose 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter and clickRemove.3. Click OK to confirm the removal of the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter.
1134. 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter is no longer listed under the Adapters tab. ClickClose to continue.5. Restart the system to complete the un-installation of 802.11a NDIS 4.0 driver.
1147. LinMon7.1 InstallationLinkMon is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) program that provides detailed operational status andstatistics for the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter. The LinkMon executable file,linkmon.exe, is included on the 802.11a Release Version 1.2 CD, and is in the folder:\ndis\bin\production\. Copy this file from the CD to a local driver for execution.Since Windows 98 SE does not have native support for WMI, which is required to make LinkMonwork correctly, an upgrade from Microsoft is needed. Use the procedures described in thefollowing section to acquire and install the necessary WMI module from Microsoft. This is onlyrequired for Windows 98 SE installations.1. Download WMI installer from Microsoft (wmi9x.exe) and save it to your hard disk.2. Execute WMI installer by double-clicking wmi9x.exe.
1153. Click Next to continue.4. Click “I accept this agreement” and then click Next to continue.
1165. Click Next to continue.6. The installer now installs files to the SYSTEM directory.7. The system must be rebooted for the WMI installation files to become effective. When thesystem completes the rebooting process, launch LinkMon.
1177.2 FeaturesThere are five tabs in LinkMon used to display STA information: General Tab Frame Statistics Tab Transmit Retries Tab Station Tab Driver TabUnder the General tab of the LinkMon program property sheet is general information about theprogram and its operations.Under the Frame Statistics tab is statistical information showing the number of frames being sentand received, retry count on frames sent, frame checksum error counts for received frames, andreceive signal strength indicator (RSSI) information. These fields are described in the StationProgrammer's Guide under Appendix A as OIDs. LinkMon supports most of the OIDs listed in thatsection.
118Under the Transmit Retries tab is detailed transmit retry statistical information for transmittedframes.
119
120Under the Station tab is detailed BSS information including SSID, BSSID, association status,operating channel frequency, and information about scanned APs.
121Under the Driver tab is statistical data pertaining to NDIS driver operation.
122The Action menu enables a NDIS driver unloading and reloading, and network interface card (NIC)reset. Note that driver unload option is not available in Windows Me, Windows 98SE, andWindows NT 4.0. NIC reset is also not available in Windows NT 4.0.
123On the Options menu, click Settings….Under the Display tab, you can select the data display modes of “Cumulative” or “Relative.”“Cumulative” mode displays statistical LinkMon data collected from the beginning of driver load.“Relative” mode, displays differences in the statistical data since the last update.
124Under the Log File tab, the logging function can be enabled to log to a file the statisticalinformation collected by the LinkMon utility, for later reference or post processing by an applicationsuch as Microsoft Excel.
1258 Country Code SelectorStarting from Release 1.1, the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter has EEPROM locationsallocated to store country code information. Currently, there are three countries available to selectfrom -- United States, Canada, and Japan. These countries represent two regulatory domains,namely the FCC (USA and Canada) and TELEC (Japan). When the country code is changed, theNDIS driver scans only the legal frequency channels allowed in those countries.The country code selection utility is provided as part of the NDIS driver package in Release 1.2 toallow users to switch to different countries. This utility is located under \NDIS\BIN\ARCCSEL in theCD. Start Country Code Selector by running ARCCSEL.EXE and follow the steps below to changecountries.1. Make sure the 802.11a Wireless Netwok Adapter is listed under Network Card field. Fromthe Country pull-down menu, choose the country that you want to switch to.2. Click Yes to continue.
1263. The country selection takes effect immediately. You can use LinkMon to verify the countrythat you selected by looking at the Regulatory Domain field in the Station tab.
1279 TroubleshootingThis chapter provides solutions to common problems that usually occur during the installation andoperation of the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter. Read the following descriptions below ifyou are having problems. If you cannot find an answer here, please contact an field applicationengineer for assistance.1. My computer does not recognize the 802.11a CardBus reference card.Make sure the CardBus card is properly inserted into a 32-bit CardBus slot. If Windows doesnot detect the hardware upon insertion of the card, the system could have a previous802.11a NDIS driver installed. Remove the old driver and try again.2. The 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter does not work properly after the driver isinstalled.Re-insert the CardBus card into the slot. A beep should be heard if the adapter is properlyinserted. Go to Device Manager and make sure the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapterexists under the network adapters device node. If you see the yellow exclamation mark thenthere are conflicting resources. In this case, make sure the computer system has a free IRQand make sure you have installed the proper driver. Uninstall the driver, restart the system,and repeat the driver installation steps if necessary.3. Stations cannot associate in ad hoc mode.Make sure the Same Service set identifier is specified for all stations that need to join thesame ad hoc network. Set up one station to establish a BSS and wait briefly before settingup other stations. This prevents several stations from trying to establish a BSS at the sametime, which can result in multiple singular BSSs being established, rather than a single BSSwith multiple stations associated to it.4. The station cannot access the Internet in the infrastructure configuration.Make sure the station is associated and joined with the AP. If Wired Equivalent Privacy(WEP) security is enabled on the AP, the station must have the proper WEP keys specified.Also make sure TCP/IP properties are correctly configured.5. ARCCSEL Country Code Selector shows the following error message: Noconfigurable 802.11a network cards were found in this system.Make sure the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter has Release 1.1 EEPROM contentsprogrammed. 802.11a CardBus Reference Design boards that were released prior toRelease 1.1 do not contain the regulatory domain information in the EEPROM. Therefore,the country code selection utility will not recognize the card.
128Appendix A – Channel and Data Rate SelectionThis section provides basic information for selecting fixed data rate and channel frequency in theNDIS driver. This becomes necessary if you want to test the 802.11a Wireless LAN NetworkAdapter at a specific channel with the rate adaptation controls turned off.To select channel frequency and data rate in the Windows environment with NDIS driver installed:1. Click Start, Run, and type "regedit” to open Registry Editor2. For Windows 2000 and Windows XP, locate the following registry key, and select Find fromthe Edit menu:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\For Windows 98SE and Windows Me, locate the following registry key, and select Find fromthe Edit menu:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrnetControlSet\3. Type "clist" and click Find Next to find the registry key. Note that if you have multipleinstances of the 802.11a Wireless LAN Network Adapter installed, for example, the NDISdriver is installed more than once, then you will need to click Find Next to locate the currentinstance of the device that is in use.4. Double-click on clist and enter the channel number in the "Value Data" field. Enter the IEEEchannel number from the following table. For example, enter 40 to select channel frequencyof 5.20 GHz. The channel numbers follow the IEEE format where:Channel Frequency (in GHz)= 5 + 0.005 *(Channel Number).Channel Number Channel Frequency Regulator Domain26 5.13 GHz N/A (not calibrated)28 5.14 GHz N/A (not calibrated)30 5.15 GHz N/A (not calibrated)32 5.16 GHz N/A (not calibrated34 5.17 GHz TELEC36 5.18 GHz FCC38 5.19 GHz TELEC40 5.20 GHz FCC42 5.21 GHz TELEC44 5.22 GHz FCC46 5.23 GHz TELEC48 5.24 GHz FCC
129Channel Number Channel Frequency Regulator Domain50 5.25 GHz N/A (not calibrated)52 5.26 GHz FCC54 5.27 GHz N/A (not calibrated)56 5.28 GHz FCC58 5.29 GHz N/A (not calibrated)60 5.30 GHz FCC62 5.31 GHz N/A (not calibrated)64 5.32 GHz FCC66 5.33 GHz N/A (not calibrated)68 5.34 GHz N/A (not calibrated)70 5.35 GHz N/A (not calibrated)72 5.36 GHz N/A (not calibrated)74 5.37 GHz N/A (not calibrated)76 5.38 GHz N/A (not calibrated)78 5.39 GHz N/A (not calibrated)80 5.40 GHz N/A (not calibrated)82 5.41 GHz N/A (not calibrated)84 5.42 GHZ N/A (not calibrated)86 5.43 GHZ N/A (not calibrated)5. To select the fixed data rate at which you want the station to transmit, double-click onrateCtrlEnable from the same registry key location where clist resides, and enter 0 to disablerate adaptation. Double-click on TransmitRate and enter the value specified in the followingtable to select the actual data rate. For example, enter 3 for 18 Mbps.Rate Number Data Rate06 Mbps19 Mbps2 12 Mbps3 18 Mbps4 24 Mbps5 36 Mbps6 48 Mbps7 54 Mbps
1306. For the changes to take effect: If you are running Windows 98SE or Windows Me, close Register Editor and restartthe systems. If you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, unload and load the driver fromLinkMon.7. To undo these changes and go back to normal operation where the channel and data rateare dynamically set, change rateCtrlEnable to 1 and clear the clist value.
16Federal Communication Commission Interference StatementThis 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 protectionagainst harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and canradiate 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 thatinterference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmfulinterference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipmentoff and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the followingmeasures:- Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.- Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.- Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver isconnected.- Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.FCC Caution: To assure continued compliance, (example - use only shielded interface cableswhen connecting to computer or peripheral devices) any changes or modifications not expresslyapproved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate thisequipment.This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following twoconditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must acceptany interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.IMPORTANT NOTE:FCC Radiation Exposure Statement:This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolledenvironment. This equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 2.5cmbetween the radiator & your body.This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna ortransmitter.

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