Edimax Technology g manual

802.11b/g/Draft 2.0-N Wireless LAN PCI Card User Manual V ersion: 1.0 (April, 2007)[...]

- 1 - COPYRIGHT Copyright ©2005/2006 by this company. A ll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmi tted, transcribed, st ored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mecha nical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without th[...]

- 2 - CA T ALOG CHAPTER I: Produc t Information......................................................................................... 3 1-1 Introduction and safe ty inform ation ............................................................................ 3 1-2 Safety In formati on .................................................................[...]

- 3 - CHAPTER I: Product Information 1-1 Introduction and safety information Thank you for purchasing this high-spe ed 802.1 1b/g/Dra ft 2.0-N wi reless network ca rd! Excepting common wireless st andards 802.1 1b/g, this wirel ess network card is also 802.1 1 Draft 2.0-N compatible - dat a transfer rate is 300Mbps, an d that’s six times fast er [...]

- 4 - 1-2 Safety Information In order to keep the safety of users and your propert ies, plea se follow the fo llowing safety instructions: 1. This PCI wireless n etwork card is designed for indo or use only . DO NOT expose this network card to dire ct sunlight or rain, snow . 2. DO NOT p ut this network card at or near hot or humi d places, like ki[...]

- 5 - 1-3 System Requirements  An empty PCI slot  Windows 2000, XP , XP64, or Vista Oper ating System  CD-ROM drive  At least 100MB of available disk space 1-4 Package Contents Before you starting to use this wireless network card, pl ease check if there’ s anything missing in the p ackage, and contact your deale r of purchase to clai[...]

- 6 - CHAPTER II: DRIVER INST ALLA TION AND CONFIGURA TION Before you proceed with the install ation, please notice following descriptio ns. Note1: The following installation was operated under Windows XP . (Procedures are similar for Windows 2000/V ista.) Note2: If you have installed the Wireless PCI Card driver & utility before, please uninst[...]

- 7 - 3. Close the computer case and switch the comp uter on, the following message will appear on your comp uter , please click ‘Cancel’ . 4. Insert device driver CDROM into the CD/DVD ROM drive of your computer , and execute ‘Setup.exe’ program in ‘Driver’ folder . Please read the end user license agreem ent and click ‘Y es’ to ac[...]

- 8 - 5. Y ou can choose the configuration tool u sed to conf igure the wirele ss network card here. It’ s recomm ended to select ‘Edimax Configuration T ool’, which provides fully ac cess to all function of this wireless network card. If you prefer to use the wireless configura tion tool prov ided by Windows XP or Vi sta, please select ‘Mi[...]

- 9 - 7. When you see this message, plea se click ‘Finish’ to complete the driver installa tion process.[...]

- 10 - 8. A new icon will appear at lower-right corner of your computer deskt op, you can put the mouse cursor on the icon, and the statu s of wireless card will be displayed as a popup b alloon. 9. When you want to configure your wireless connection, please right click on this icon, and a po pup menu will appear . Y ou can click ‘Launch Config U[...]

- 11 - 2-2 Connect to Wireless Access Point There are two ways you can configure y our wirele ss network card to conn ec t to wireless access point: using the Ralink configuration utilit y which comes with wireless card driver , a nd using built-in windows zero configuration utility . 2-2-1 Using Edimax Utility Please follow the following instructi[...]

- 12 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup item: SSID: The Service Set IDentifier of wire less access point or other network device. Y ou can think it as the name of access point of wireless device. BSSID: The MAC address of wireless access point or other network device. Unlike SSID, BSSID of every access point or network device is unique, and wi[...]

- 13 - Authentication: Shows the authent ication mode that acce ss point or wireless devi ce uses. If the wireless access point does not require authentication, you’ ll see ‘Unknown’ displayed here. Network T y pe: Shows the type of wireless connection. If it’ s a wireless access point, ‘Infrastructure ’ will be displayed here; if it’[...]

- 14 - 3. Click the wireless access point or network device y ou wish to con nect, it will be highlighted, then click ‘Connect’. If the access point you selected doe s not enable encryption (The content of ‘Encryption’ field of the acce ss point you selected is ‘None’, you’ll be connected to this wireless access point within one minut[...]

- 15 - 5. If the wireless access point uses encryption, you hav e to input WEP passphrase or WP A preshared key . Please ask the owner of the wireless a ccess point y ou want to connect, and in put the correct passphrase / preshared key here, then click ‘OK’. If the value you in putted here is wrong, you will not be able to connect to this wire[...]

- 16 - 6. Y ou’ll see ‘Connected <-> SSI D’ (‘SSID’ is the SSID of the wireless access point or wireless device you connected to) message displayed at lower-lef t corner of configuration utility , congratulations, you’re successfully con nected to the ac cess point or wirele ss device you selected! 7. Y ou can put the mouse cursor[...]

- 17 - 2-2-2 Using Wi ndows Zero Configuration Windows XP and Vist a has a built-in wireless net work configuration utility , called as ‘Windows Zero Configuration’ (WZC). Y ou can also use WZC to configure your wi reless network para meter: 1. Right-click Edimax configuration utility icon and select ‘Use Zero Configuration as Configuration u[...]

- 18 - 3. Right-click ‘Wireless Network Connection’ (it ma y have a number as suffix if you have more than one wireless network ca rd, please make sure you right -click the ‘Ediamx 802.1 1n Wi reless LAN Card), then select ‘View Available Wireless Net works’. 4. All wireless access points in proximity wi ll be displa yed here. If the acce[...]

- 19 - 5. If the access point is protected by encr yption, you have to input it s security key or passph rase here. It must match the encryption setting on the access point. If the access point you selected does not use encryption, you’ll not be prompted for security key or passphrase. 6. If you can see ‘Connected’ message, the connection bet[...]

- 20 - 2-3 Connection Profile Management If you need to connect to dif ferent wireless acce ss points at dif ferent time, like of access point of your home, office, cybe rcafe, or public wireless service, you can store the connection p arameters (encryption, pa ssphrase, security etc, etc.) as a profile for every a ccess point, so you don’t have [...]

- 21 - Or , you can add a connected wireless a ccess point or wirele ss device to a profile by clicking ‘S ite Survey’ tab, then click ‘Add to Profile’ button:[...]

- 22 - Y ou can set the pa rameter for this connection h ere:[...]

- 23 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Profile Name Please give this profile a nam e, up to 32 alphanumerical characters and symbols are allowed, but sp ace is not allowed. SSID The SSID of the wireless access point or wireless device you selected will be displayed here. But if the SSID of access point or wireless de vice is not availa[...]

- 24 - TX Power Y ou can select the radio output power of wireless network card. Y ou may not need full radio power if you’ re not far from wireless access point, and only use a high setting here if you found that radio reception is bad. If you don’t know which one to use, sel ect ‘Auto’. Preamble This option is only available when the netw[...]

- 25 - Now click ‘Authenticatio n and Security’ tab, and set the encryption and aut hentication settings. Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Authentication Select the aut hentication type of the wireless ac cess T ype point or wireless device you wish to con nect. If you’re adding a profile from an existing access point or wi reless[...]

- 26 - Encryption: Select the encryption type of the wirele ss a ccess point or wireless devi ce you wish to connect. If you’re adding a profile from an existing access point or wireless devi ce, the value will be selected a utomatically , and please do not modify it. WP A Input WP A presh ared ke y here. If encryption is not Preshared Key enabl [...]

- 27 - After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save setti ngs and exit. The profile you just created will be displayed : Select the profile you wish to use, and click ‘Activate’ to use the profile you sele cted. Y ou can only activate a profile a time, and the profile, which is activated curren tly will have a green check ( ) before it[...]

- 28 - 2-3-2 Using 802.1x – Certification After you click ‘802.1x Setting’, a new wi ndow will appear: Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Authentication Please select an 802.1 x authentication type here. T ype The type you sele ct here must be identical to the type of the 802.1x authentication type you’ re using. Session Y ou can [...]

- 29 - Use Client If the authentication ty pe you use is ‘PEAP’ or ‘TTLS’ , you can use the certificate stored on your computer . If the authentication type you use is ‘TLS/Smart Card’ , this box is always checked. More.. Af ter you clicked this button, you’ ll be prompted to select a certificat e on your computer . Allow This box is [...]

- 30 - 2-3-3 Using 802.1x - CA Server If you want to use CA server , please click ‘CA Server’ t ab. And the following message will be displayed: Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Use certificate Check this box to enabl e the use of certificate chain. chain Certificate Please sele ct the i ssuer of certificate from this Issuer dropdow[...]

- 31 - connection will be dropped. Domain name Check this box and the wireless configuration utility must end will check the end of domain name. If there’ s in specified name anything wrong, connection will be drop ped. After you finish all settings, click ‘OK’ to save settings and exit.[...]

- 32 - 2-4 V iew Network S tatistics and Link S tatus The configuration utility provides information about net work statistics and link st atus. If you want to know how your wireless network card works, you can use these f unctions to get detailed inf ormation about the wireless connection you’re using. 2-4-1 Network S tatistics Please follow the[...]

- 33 - 2-4-2 Link S tatus Please follow the following instructions to chec k network stati stics: 1. Right-click the Edimax configuration utili ty icon located at lower-right corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2. Click ‘Link S tatus’ t ab, and information about current wirel ess connection will be displayed:[...]

- 34 - These information display ed here are up dated every second, and here are descriptions of every item: S tatus Display the SSID and BSSID of connected wireless access point or wireless device (displayed as SSID <-> BSSID as shown in above pi cture. If there’s no active connection currently , ‘Disconnected’ will be displayed here. [...]

- 35 - 2-5 Advanced Settings This wireless network card provides several advance d settings for experie nced wireless user s. Y ou can change these settings to increase dat a transfer perfo rmance, or change op eration mode. Please follow the following instructions to set advanced wirele ss settings: 1. Right-click the Edimax configuration utili ty[...]

- 36 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Wireless mode Select wireless ope ration mode, available optio ns are 802.1 1 B/G mix, 802.1 1 B only , and 802.1 1 B/G/N mix. Y ou can select 802.1 1 B/G/N mix to maximize wireless compatibility with wirele ss access point s and other wireless de vices. Anyway , you can set this setting to ‘802[...]

- 37 - Show When your computer is being authe nticated by Authentication wireless authentication serve r , a dialog window S tatus Dialog with the process of authentication will appea r . This function is help ful to find out the problem when you can not be authenti cated, and you can provide this information to authenticatio n server ’ s adminis[...]

- 38 - 2-6 QoS Setting This wireless netwo rk card provides QoS (Quality of Se rvice) function, which can improve the performance of certain netwo rk applications, like audio / video stream ing, netwo rk telephony (V oIP), and others. When you enable WMM (Wi-Fi MultiM edia) function of this network card, you can define the prio rity of different ki[...]

- 39 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: WMM Enable Check this box to enable WMM function. Please click ‘Apply’ button on the right of this check box af ter you ch eck or uncheck this box, so correspon ding settings in this window will be activated or deactivated respecti vely . WMM - Power Enable WMM power saving mode to save en erg[...]

- 40 - Direct Link Enable or disable direct link setup (DLS) function. Setup Enable This function will greatly impro ve the data transfer rate betwe en WMM-enabled wireless device s. Please click ‘Apply’ butt on on the right of this check box af ter you check or uncheck this box, so corresponding settings in this window will be activated or dea[...]

- 41 - 2-7 WPS Configuration Note: This function support s Wi ndows XP/XP64 Operat ion system only . Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is the latest wireless ne twork t echnology , which makes wi reless n etwork set up become very simple. If you have WPS-enabled wireless acce ss point, and you want to est ablish a secure connection to it, you don’t hav[...]

- 42 - 2-7-1 WPS Setup - PBC (Push-Button Configuration) 1. Right-click the Edimax conf iguration utility icon located at lower-ri ght corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 2. Click ‘WPS Configuration’ tab, and the following settings will appear:[...]

- 43 - 4. Push the ‘WPS’ button on your wirel ess access point (the button used to activate WPS standby mode may have another name), or use other way to st art WPS standby mode as the instruction given by your wirele ss access point’ s user manual. 4. Before you start to establish the wireless connecti on by using WPS, you can click ‘Rescan[...]

- 44 - message, means the conn ection between your wireless network card and access point is su ccessfully connected by WPS, and the information about acce ss point you connected to wil l be displayed. Sometime WPS may fail, and you can click ‘PBC’ button fe w more times to try again. Wh en an access point is connected, y ou can click ‘Disco [...]

- 45 - 2-7-2 WPS Setup - PIN If the wireless access point you wish to connect support s PIN, please follow the following instructions to est ablish connection to it: 1. Right-click the Edimax conf iguration utility icon located at lower-ri ght corner of computer desktop, then click ‘Launch Config Utilities’. 3. Click ‘WPS Configuration’ t a[...]

- 46 - The PIN number of your wirele ss network card i s an ei ght-digit number located at the upper-right position of configuration utility . Remember it, and input the number to your wireless acce ss point as the WPS PIN code (Please refer to the user manual of your wirel ess access point for instructions about how to do this). 3. Click ‘PIN’[...]

- 47 - 2-8 About The ‘About’ ta b provides you the information about versi on number s of configuration utility , firmware, and other important info rmation about your wireless network card . Please follow the following instructions to see these i nformation: 1. Right-click the Edimax configuration utili ty icon located at lower-right corner of[...]

- 48 - If you need assista nce about network problem, you’ll need th ese values. Y ou can also click ‘www .edimax.com” button to go to the web site of network card driver m anufacturer and get more informatio n about your wireless network card. Please click ‘OK’ to close configuration utility .[...]

- 49 - CHAPTER III: Sof t-AP Function Note: This function support s Wi ndows XP/XP64 Operat ion system only . Excepting become a wireless client of other wi reless access points , this wireless card can act as a wi reless service provider also! Y ou can switch this wireless card’ s operating mode to ‘AP’ mode to simulate the function of a rea[...]

- 50 - If your computer has another network ca rd which is connected to Internet, please sele ct it from ‘Name’ dropdown menu, and click ‘Enable ICS’; if your computer doe s not have another network card with Inte rnet connection, please click ‘Not enable ICS’. After you click ‘Enable ICS’ or ‘Not enable ICS’, you’ll see the b[...]

- 51 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: SSID Please input the SSID (the name used to identify this wirel ess access point) here. Up to 32 numerical characters can be acce pted here, excepting spa ce. TX Rate Please select the dat a transfer rate here. The maxim um TX rate you can select here depends on the wireless mode you’ re using.[...]

- 52 - computer , unless you want to limit the type of wireless client allo wed to connect to your computer . Use Mac Click this button to use the MAC addre ss of the Address wireless card as SSID. A prefix of ‘AP’ will be added. Security Set the security options (wireless data e ncryption ) Setting Please refer to chapter 3-2 ‘Security Setti[...]

- 53 - Hide SSID Check this box and the SSID will not be broadcaste d to the public. Y our wireless clients m ust know the exact SSID to be able to connect to your com puter . This option is useful to enhance security level. Allow BW Check this box to allow BW 40MHz cap ability . 40 MHz Default Click this button to restore all se ttings in this p a[...]

- 54 - 3-2 Security Settings This wireless card suppo rts wirele ss encryption in AP mode, which will encrypt the dat a being transferred ov er the air to enhance data security level. It’s re commended to enable dat a encryption unles s you wish to open your computer (and its internet con nection) to the public. When you click ‘Security Setting[...]

- 55 - NOTE: WP A encryption is safer than WEP , how ever , some older wireless client s don’t support WP A encryption. WP A Pre -shared Please input the WP A pre-shared key here. Only Key clients with th e same pre-shared key you inputted here will be able to connect to your comput er . This setting is only available when you select one of WP A [...]

- 56 - 3-3 Access Control If you’re not going to open your computer and wirel ess resources to the public, you can use MAC add ress filtering function to enforce your acce ss control policy , so only wireless c lient s with MAC addre ss you defined by this function can be connected to your sof tware access point. Please follow the following instr[...]

- 57 - Here are descriptions of ev ery setup items: Access Policy Select the policy type of your access rule: Disable: Allow any wireless clie nt with proper authentication settings to connect to this access poin t. Allow All: Only allow wireless clients wit h MAC address listed here to connect to this access point. Reject All: Reject wireless clie[...]

- 58 - 3-4 Connection T able If you want to see the list of all wireless client s con nected to this access point, please follow t he following instructions: 1. Right-Click Edimax configuration utilit y icon, and select ‘Switch to AP Mode’ 3. Click ‘Mac T able’ t ab, and a list cont aining all connected wirel ess clients will appear:[...]

- 59 - Here are descriptions of every field: MAC Address Displays the MAC add ress of this wireless client. AID The serial num ber of this wireless connection. Power Saving Displays the cap ability of power -saving function of Mode this wireless client. S tatus Displays additional informa tion of this wireless Connection, like current wireless oper[...]

- 60 - 3-5 Event Log This software access point will log all wi reless-related activities as a log. Y ou can follow the foll owing instructions to view the content of the event log: 1. Right-Click Edimax configuration utilit y icon, and select ‘Switch to AP Mode’ 3. Click ‘Event Log’ tab, and t he event log will be displayed: Y ou can click[...]

- 61 - 3-6 S tatistics If you want to know detaile d information about how your soft ware access point works, you can follow the following instructions to view t he statistics of the access point: 1. Right-Click Edimax configuration utilit y icon, and select ‘Switch to AP Mode’ 3. Click ‘S tatistics’ tab, and the event log wi ll be displaye[...]

- 62 - CHAPTER IV : APPENDIX 4-1 Hardware S pecification Standards: IEEE 802.11b/g/Draft-N Interface: 32-bit PCI Frequency Band: 2.4000 ~ 2.4835G Hz (I ndustrial Scientific Medical Band) Data Rate: 11b: 1/2/5.5/11Mbps 11g: 6/9/12/24/36/48/54Mbps 11n (20MHz): MCS0-15, 32 with Half G uard Interval Suppo rt (up to 144Mbps) 11n (40MHz): MCS0-15, 32 wit[...]

- 63 - 4-2 T roubleshooting If you encounter any problem when you’re usin g this wireless network card, don’t pani c! Before you call your dealer of purchase for help, please check this troubleshooti ng t able, the solution of your pro blem could be very simple, and you can solve the problem b y yourself! Scenario Solution I can’t find any wi[...]

- 64 - problem when transferring large files 2. Enable ‘Wireless Protection’ in ‘Advanced’ t ab. 3. T ry a lower TX Rate in ‘Advanced’ tab. 4. Disable ‘Tx Burst’ in ‘Advanced’ tab. 5. Enable ‘WMM’ in ‘QoS’ tab if you need to use multimedia / telephony related applications. 6. Disable ‘WMM – Power Save Enable’ in ?[...]

- 65 - 4-3 Glossary 1. What is the IEEE 802.1 1g standar d? 802.1 1g is the new IEEE standa rd for high-speed wireless LAN communi cations that provides for up to 54 Mbps dat a rate in the 2.4 GHz band. 80 2.1 1g is quickl y becoming the next mainstream wireless LA N technology for the home, of fice and public networks. 802.1 1g defines the use of [...]

- 66 - 7. What is WEP? WEP is Wi red Equivalent Privacy , a data privacy mechanism based on a 40 bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802 .1 1 standard. 8. What is TKIP? TKIP is a quick-fix method to quickly ov ercome the inherent weaknesses in WEP security , especially the reuse of encryption keys. TKIP is involved in the IEEE 802.1 [...]

- 67 - 14. What is WMM? Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), a group of feature s for wire less networks that improv e the user experience for audio, video and voice applications. WMM is based on a subset of the IEEE 802.1 1e WLAN QoS draft standard. WMM add s prioritized cap abilities to Wi -Fi networks and optimizes their performance when multiple concurring [...]

- 68 - 4-4 FCC and Other Compliance S tatements Federal Communication Commission Interference S t atement This equipment has been tested a nd found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursu ant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. These limits are de signed to provide reaso nable protection against harmful interfere nce in a residential ins[...]

- 69 - The antenna(s) used for this transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjun ction with any other antenna or transmitter . R&TTE Compliance Statement This equipment complies with all the requir ement s of DIRECTIVE 1999/5/EC OF THE EUROPEAN P ARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL of March 9, 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunication te[...]