High Speed USB Adapter 11Mbps Wireless LAN User’s Guide P/N: 85-506300-00 Rev. X1 August 2001 National Datacomm Corporation 4F, No. 24-2, Industry East 4th road Science Park, Hsin-Chu Taiwan, R.O.C. Technical Support E-mail: techsupt@ndc.com.tw NDC World Wide Web www.ndc.com.
TRADEMARKS NDC and InstantWave are trademarks of NDC Communications, Inc. All other names mentioned in this document are trademarks/registered trademarks of their respective owners. NDC provides this document “as is,” without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor implied, including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. NDC may make improvements and/or changes in this manual or in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this manual at any time.
FCC RF Radiation Exposure Statement: This equipment complies with FCC RF radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with a minimum distance of 20 centimeters between the radiator and your body.
Packing List The package contents vary depending on whether you have purchased the PnP USB Adapter: The USB Adapter package should contain the following items: • One USB Adapter • One Diskette for Windows driver • Two Diskettes for Windows Utility Program • This User’s Guide iv InstantWave High Speed USB Adapter
Table Of Contents Introduction Congratulations on choosing an InstantWave High Speed wireless networking family product. InstantWave High Speed was designed with a “Maximizing the convenience of networking” philosophy in mind. You will find InstantWave High Speed very easy to configure and use. This User’s Guide gives comprehensive instructions on installing and using the InstantWave High Speed USB Adapters, and also explains how to install and use the InstantWave High Speed Utility Program.
Glossary Wireless Network In the IEEE 802.11 definition, a wireless network is classified as an Ad-Hoc network or an Infrastructure network. Ad-Hoc Network An Ad-Hoc network is formed by a number of wireless stations (without an Access Point) communicating via radio waves. For the users, the shared resources on the wireless network appear exactly as they would on a regular wired network. The wireless operation of the network is totally transparent. Figure 1 depicts a typical Ad-Hoc network scenario.
Group ID/BSSID A Group ID (the 802.11 standard uses the term BSSID) is the ID of a wireless cell. A wireless cell is usually made up of stations in an area that the radio signal can comfortably cover. In other words, any wireless station in the cell can communicate with any other within reach of the radio signal (Figure 3). Access Point Wireless Stations Figure 3.
find the correct frequency band to use. All InstantWave High Speed products are supplied preset to the country of sale’s frequency band. Access Point An Access Point (AP) provides a transparent bridged connection between a wired network and a wireless network and allows wireless stations to communicate with devices attached to a wired network. It manages the flow of data packets from the wired LAN to the Wireless LAN and vice versa.
Getting Started This section explains how to quickly setup a wireless station. Hardware Installation USB Adapter Installation The USB Adapter fits into a USB slot. The antenna is encased in a plastic case, in line with the main body of the USB Adapter, such that it extends outside the USB slot when the card is inserted. step2. Repeat the above procedure for each of the other computers to be networked LEDs The USB each have two LED. In normal use the orange LED when the adapter is activity.
Driver Installation/Uninstallation For Windows 95 see the following section, for Windows 98 go to page 9, for Windows NT 4.0 go to page 11. Installation in Windows 95 You should begin by identifying your version. The original version of Windows 95 (old version) is not supported by the adapter. Right click My Computer and click Properties. The System Properties screen will open (Figure 5). Check the version number Figure 5.
Figure 6. Update Device Driver Wizard-1 step3. step4. Insert the InstantWave High Speed driver disk and click Next The Update Device Driver Wizard will indicate that Windows 95 found the driver in the root directory (Figure 7). Click Finish . Figure 7. Update Device Driver Wizard-2 step5. The installer will copy the driver files into the system. There is a known problem with the Windows 95 OSR2 device installer. The installer may default to the wrong source location.
Figure 9. Copying Files step6. Click OK on each screen. After the driver files have been copied, setup is complete step7. Depending on your current installation of Windows 95, the setup program may ask you to insert the Windows 95 disk step8. If the TCP/IP protocols are required (necessary for Internet access), add them by clicking Start/Control Panel/Network/Configuration That completes the hardware and driver installation.
Installation in Windows 98 Driver installation and uninstallation in Windows 98 is basically the same as that of Windows 95 OSR2. Complete the following procedure to install the driver program for Windows 98. step1. Turn on the power and start Windows 98 step2. Windows 98 will detect the adapter and the Add New Hardware Wizard dialog box will open (Figure 10) Figure 10. Add New Hardware Wizard-1 step3. Click Next step4. Choose Search for the best driver for your device (Figure 11).
Figure 12. Add New Hardware Wizard-3 step5. step6. Insert the InstantWave High Speed disk and click Next The Add New Hardware Wizard will indicate that Windows 98 found the driver in the root directory (Figure 13). Click Next Figure 13. Add New Hardware Wizard-4 step7. Go to page, and follow steps 7 to 13 The default network protocol for Windows 98 is TCP/IP. If other network protocols are required they can be added via Control Panel/Network. Uninstalling the Adapter from Windows 98 step1.
Installation in Windows NT 4.0 Important: Before installing the driver in Windows NT 4.0, check that in the computer’s BIOS on the PnP and USB Settings page, “PnP OS Installed” is set to NO. step1. Double-click My Computer, double-click Control Panel step2. Double-click the Network icon to open the Network window. Select the Adapters card Click Add. The Select Network Adapter dialog box will open step3. step4. step5.
step12. step13. The InstantWave High Speed Adapter will now be shown on the Adapters card in the Network configuration box. Click Close step14. If the user needs to bind the adapter to TCP/IP, then the TCP/IP protocols must be added step15. The Network Settings Change dialog box will ask you to restart the computer. Remove the floppy disk from the floppy drive and click Yes to complete the installation step16.
Installation in Windows 2000 A final release Windows 2000 may be slightly different. Updated installation procedures will be found at www.sohoware.com or on a loose sheet inside the package. step1. Turn on the power to the PC and start the Windows 2000 operating system Figure 16. Found New Hardware Wizard-1 step2. The Found New Hardware Wizard dialog box will open . Click Next Figure 17. Found New Hardware Wizard-2 step3. Choose Search for a suitable driver for my device and click Next step4.
step6. Click Next when Windows finds a driver for this device step7. Click Yes to begin copying the necessary driver files step8. On the Completing the Found New Hardware screen, click Finish step9. Restart the computer Uninstalling the Adapter from Windows 2000 step4. Click Start/Settings/Control Panel, and double-click the Network icon, then highlight the InstantWave High Speed adapter driver entry step5. Click the Remove button to remove the old InstantWave High Speed adapter driver step6.
The InstantWave High Speed Windows Utility Program The InstantWave High Speed Utility program is a Windows-based application that allows users to monitor and configure the wireless adapter. The program includes a Network Watcher tool that allows users to determine the best location to place the InstantWave High Speed products, or to diagnose the wireless network for problems.
step3. From the Choose Destination Location dialog box, click Next to copy the program files to the default location, C:\Program Files\InstantWaveHighSpeed, or click Browse to choose another location step4. The setup program will copy the necessary files into the specified directory. File copying progress will be displayed in the InstantWave High Speed utility setup screen. Check I would like to launch InstantWave High Speed Utility, and click OK.
Figure 20. Toolbar step4. step5. step6. Click the icon for the task you wish to perform. The functions provided by the utility program are, reading from left to right on Figure 20: • Adapter Properties • Network Watcher • Signal Quality Indicator • Throughput Monitor Right-click the InstantWave High Speed Utility toolbar.
Green Good signal quality Pop up message dialog is used to display a warning message in case of abnormal conditions Play sound is used to generate an alert sound in case of abnormal conditions Right-click on the icon to open a popup menu for fast access to the Utility program, Preferences, and Help. Adapter Properties There are two ways to access Adapter Properties. One is by clicking Start/Programs/InstantWave High Speed Utility/Adapter Properties.
(Extended Service Set ID). Having the same Domain Name allows all wireless nodes in the same Domain (or Cell) to communicate with each other. The default setting is Wireless.
• Transmission Rate – The transmission rate at which the data packets are transmitted by the client or AP. You can set this to Auto select 1 or 2 Mbps, Fixed 1 Mbps, Fixed 2 Mbps, Fixed 5.5 Mbps, Fixed 11Mbps or Full Auto(1 to 11 Mbps). • Carrier Set - This is preset to the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Spain, France, or Japan depending on where the product is sold. The parameter shown indicates which Radio Frequency (RF) 802.
In a multiple cell network topology, overlapping and/or adjacent cells using different channels can operate simultaneously without interference if the frequency distance between the center frequencies is at least 30MHz. For example channel 1, 7 and 13 are non-overlapping frequency channels. • Power Saving – Power saving mode enable and disable Click OK to close the window. A pop-up screen will ask if you wish to reboot your computer to make the changes effective.
• Adapter Status - Displays the adapter’s working status Link Information Click the Link Information tab to view the Adapter Link Properties (Figure 24). Figure 25. Wireless Adapter Link Properties • State - Link State explains whether the client is connected to ESSID or not. It also shows the identification MAC address of the ESS to which this is connected currently.
Click the Encryption tab to view the Adapter WEP Properties (Figure 24). Figure 26. WEP Security • Use WEP - The WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy. WEP is an encryption scheme that provides the secure wireless data communications to the users. WEP uses a 40-bits key to control the network access. In order to decode the data transmission, each wireless client on the network must use the identical 40-bits key. • WEP Key Generation - There are two ways of generating the WEP key.
number and use Key for accessing the Access Point. If the Key is not entered correctly, a client cannot access the resources. As the wireless channel is more prone to the illegal access, WEP provides users safe access. If the WEP key is enable on the AP, all client should be use the same WEP key with AP.
Network Watcher (Infrastructure) In an Infrastructure network, Network Watcher scans for all existing wireless cells in range and displays the AP names, the MAC address, the Domain Name, the Signal Strength, the number of stations currently connected to each AP, and the connection status. When Network Watcher is run, the program first reads and displays information stored in the database. The signal strength entry shows either Green (strong signal), or Yellow (average signal).
Refresh Click Refresh to obtain and display updated data. You may need to wait a short time depending on the number of replies received. Signal Quality Indicator Signal Quality Indicator dynamically displays the present radio signal quality (Figure 30). The quality level is indicated by colors. Green means the signal is good, Yellow indicates the signal is fair, Red denotes the signal is poor. When the signal color reaches the yellow to red border, the station will start to roam if roaming is enabled.
Software Upgrade Procedures Windows NDIS Driver Upgrade Follow the instructions below to install a new NDIS USB driver release. step1. step2. step3. In Control Panel, click the Network icon, then highlight the InstantWave High Speed adapter driver entry Click the Remove button to remove the old InstantWave High Speed adapter driver Click Close. The system will ask you to reboot the PC.
Troubleshooting Windows 95/98 Installation Problems Windows could not find the adapter • The adapter is not properly inserted in the slot 1. 2. 3. • Power off the computer Remove and reinsert the wireless adapter Reboot the computer and re-install the adapter driver A previous adapter installation was aborted by the user, or by Windows 1. 2. 3.
There are more than one wireless adapter entries shown in the Control Panel/Network folder. You do not know which one is the current one • A previously installed wireless adapter entry for a different card was not removed 1. Remove all wireless LAN adapter entries from the Network window 2. Reboot the PC to re-install the wireless adapter Windows NT 4.0 Installation Problems Windows NT 4.0 could not find the adapter • The adapter is not properly inserted in the slot 1. Power off the computer 2.
General Utility Error Messages Cannot find the Wireless adapter • The Wireless adapter driver is installed, but the wireless adapter is not in the computer slot If you are using the wireless USB Adapter, you will only need to re-insert the USB adapter into the USB slot to re-enable the driver. Adapter is not responding • The card is in the system. The wireless adapter driver is not functioning.
• The connected AP is too far away 1. 2. • Use Network Watcher to find an AP with a stronger signal Move your PC closer to the connected AP The adapter antenna is not connected, or its signal path is blocked by metal casing, e.g. metal filing cabinets 1. 2.
Technical Support If you are having a problem using an NDC product and cannot resolve it, please note the following information and contact NDC Technical Support: • What you were doing when the error occurred • What error messages you saw • Whether the problem can be reproduced • The serial number of the product Send the above information and the output of the Troubleshooting screen (see page 24) to one of the following addresses: support@ndclan.com (US only) techsupt@ndc.com.
NDC Limited Warranty Hardware NDC warrants its products to be free of defects in workmanship and materials, under normal use and service, for a period of 12 months from the date of purchase from NDC or its Authorized Reseller, and for the period of time specified in the documentation supplied with each product.
1. Inform the distributor or retailer 2. Ship the product back to the distributor/retailer with prepaid freight. The purchaser must pay the shipping freight from the distributor/retailer to NDC. Any package sent C.O.D. (Cash On Delivery) will be refused 3. Charges: Usually RMA (Returned Material Authorization) items will be returned to the purchaser via Airmail, prepaid by NDC. If returned by another carrier, the purchaser will pay the difference.
EC DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY For the following equipment: Product Name: : InstantWave High Speed Wireless USB Adapter Model Number: : NWH640 (USB Adapter) Produced by: Manufacturer’s : NATIONAL DATACOMM CORPORATION Name Manufacturer’s : 2F, NO. 28, INDUSTRY EAST 9TH ROAD Address SCIENCE PARK, HSINCHU, TAIWAN, R.O.C. is hereby confirmed to comply with the requirements set out in the Council Directive on the Approximation of the Laws of the Member States relating to R&TTE Directive(99/ 5/ EC).