Asus USB-N11 User manual

User Manual
Wireless N USB Adapter
USB-N11
(
For 802.11n draft, 802.11g & 802.11b Networks
)
®
E3739 / May 2008

2 ASUS WLAN Adapter
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Copyright © 2008 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright Information

ASUS WLAN Adapter 3
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
Company address: 15 Li-Te Road, Beitou, Taipei 11259
General (tel): [phone]
Web site address: www.asus.com.tw
General (fax): [phone]
General email: [email protected]
Technical support
General support (tel): [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com
ASUS COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL (America)
Company address: 44370 Nobel Drive, Fremont, CA 94538, USA
General (fax): [phone]
Web site address: usa.asus.com
Technical support
General support (tel): [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com
Notebook (tel): [phone] x5110
Support (fax): [phone]
ASUS COMPUTER GmbH (Germany & Austria)
Company address: Harkort Str. 25, D-40880 Ratingen, Germany
General (tel): [phone]
Web site address: www.asus.com.de
General (fax): [phone]
Online contact: www.asus.com.de/sales
Technical support
Component support: [phone]
Online support: http://support.asus.com
Notebook support: [phone]
Support (fax): [phone]
Contact Information

4 ASUS WLAN Adapter
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ..............................................................................5
Package contents.....................................................................................5
Features ...................................................................................................5
2. Installation..................................................................................6
System Requirements ...........................................................................6
Installation Procedures ..........................................................................6
Installing the WLAN utilities and driver ..................................................6
Reading the WLAN status indicators........................................................7
WPS Push Button ....................................................................................8
Conguring with the WLAN utility (Infrastructure) ....................................9
Conguring with the WLAN utility (Ad Hoc)............................................10
3. Software Reference................................................................11
ASUS WLAN Control Center ...............................................................11
ASUS Wireless Settings Utility ............................................................13
Status - Status........................................................................................13
Status - Connection................................................................................15
Status - IP Cong ...................................................................................16
Status - Ping...........................................................................................16
Cong - Basic.........................................................................................17
Cong - Advanced ..................................................................................18
Cong - Encryption.................................................................................19
Cong - Authentication ...........................................................................22
Proles ...................................................................................................23
Survey - Site Survey...............................................................................24
About - Version Info................................................................................25
Link State ...............................................................................................26
Exit Wireless Settings.............................................................................26
Windows®XP Wireless Options .............................................................27
Windows®Vista Wireless Options ..........................................................29
4. Troubleshooting .....................................................................30
5. Glossary ..................................................................................32
6. Appendix .................................................................................40

ASUS WLAN Adapter 5
Chapter 1
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Introduction
1. Introduction
Package contents
Check the following items in your ASUS Wireless LAN Adapter package.
Contact your retailer if any item is damaged or missing.
1 x ASUS Wireless LAN Adapter (USB-N11)
1 x Support CD
1 x Quick Start Guide
1 x USB Cable
Features
High speed networking (11n Draft) for fast download, le transfer, and
media streaming
Easy setup: Press button on adapter and router for WiFi setup (base on
WPS standard)
Multiple OS support: Windows, Linux, and Mac

Chapter 2
6 ASUS WLAN Adapter
Chapter 2 - Installation
Installation
2. Installation
System Requirements
To begin using the WLAN Adapter, you must meet the following minimum
requirements:
• Windows XP/2000/2003/Vista 32/64bit, Linux (driver source code
available) Mac 10.3/10.4/10.5 OS
• USB 2.0 for personal computer or notebook computer
• 128MB system memory or larger
• 750MHz processor or higher
Installing the WLAN utilities and driver
Follow these instructions to install the WLAN Adapter utilities and driver. Insert
the support CD into your optical drive. If autorun is enabled in your computer,
the CD automatically displays the utility menu. Click Install ASUS WLAN Card
Utilities/Driver. If autorun is disabled, double-click SETUP.EXE in the root
directory of the CD.
2. Click Next on the Welcome screen.
1. Select your language and click Install
ASUS WLAN Card Utilities/Driver.
4. Click Next to create short cut.
3. Click Next to use the default Destination Folder
or click Browse to select another folder.
Important: Install the WLAN Adapter utilities CD before inserting the
WLAN Adapter into your computer.
Installation Procedures

ASUS WLAN Adapter 7
Chapter 2 - Installation
Chapter 2
Installation
7. Carefully insert the WLAN Adapter into
your computer’s USB slot. Windows will
automatically detect and congure the
WLAN Adapter using the utilities and
drivers installed in the previous steps.
8. Windows XP users: When the program
is launched for the rst time (during
Windows restart), you are asked to
choose one utility to congure the WLAN
Adapter. Select "Only use our WLAN
utilities and disable Windows wireless
function".
5. The installation process takes several
seconds.
6. When Setup is complete, click Finish to
exit the installation wizard and restart the
computer.
Reading the WLAN status indicators
The device comes with one LED to indicate the status of the WLAN Adapter,
and on button for WiFi Protected Setup (WPS).
LED
ON: Connected to wireless device.
Blinking: Transmitting data; the blinking
speed indicates the link speed.
OFF: Adapter is disabled.
Button
WPS Push Button: Enable WPS Push Button mode.
Notes:
• For Mac user, click Explore this CD to download Mac driver and utility.
Then follow the instructions to install the WLAN utilities and driver.
• For Linux user, download the Linux driver source code form CD, and
build the driver for the Linux OS you are using.
Button
LED

Chapter 2
8 ASUS WLAN Adapter
Chapter 2 - Installation
Installation
WPS Push Button
Use the WPS Push Button to set up your wireless connection with an existing
wireless LAN.
1. Push and hold the WPS Push Button on the USB
adapter until the ASUS WLAN Card Settings utility
and the WPS wizard pop-up.
2. Push the WPS button on the router, or click WPS
on the web conguration interface of the router.
Note: The WPS wizard works only with routers with WPS support. Check
your router specication before setting up the WPS.
On the ASUS WLAN Card Settings utility, you can
see the USB adapter connected to the router.
3. The WPS wizard displays the conection
status. The picture on the right
indicates the connection is successful. Click
Finish to exit the WPS wizard.

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Chapter 2 - Installation
Chapter 2
Installation
Conguring with the WLAN utility (Infrastructure)
Use ASUS WLAN utility to get connected with an existing wireless network.
6. Check the Connection tab to see the
signal strength. Click OK to exit the utility.
5. Check the Status page to see the
association state. If connection is
established, the box shows “Connected -
xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx”.
3. Use Site Survey if you don’t know the
SSID of your access point(s).
4. Encryption settings must match those
at the access point. Ask your network
administrator about settings if necessary.
Click Apply to activate the settings.
1. Right-click the wireless connection icon
and select Wireless Settings.
2. Check the Cong page to set the SSID
(network name) to that of your wireless AP.

Chapter 2
10 ASUS WLAN Adapter
Chapter 2 - Installation
Installation
Conguring with the WLAN utility (Ad Hoc)
The WLAN Adapter supports Ad Hoc mode that allows communication
between wireless stations without an AP.
2. Click the Cong button and set the WLAN
Adapter to Ad Hoc connection mode.
3. Click the Survey button to scan for Ad
Hoc nodes. Select the node you want to
communicate with and press Connect.
4. If the encryption settings of your WLAN
Adapter are different from those of the
other Ad Hoc nodes, you are prompted
to make the encryption of the two nodes
identical. Click Apply to activate the
settings.
1. Right-click the wireless connection icon
and select Wireless Settings.
5. Check the Status page to see the association
state. If connection is established, the box
shows “Connected - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx”.
6. Check the Connection tab to see the
signal strength. Click OK to exit the utility.

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Chapter 3 - Software Reference
Chapter 3
Software Reference
Using the Control Center
The Control Center taskbar icon displays the following information:
• Link quality of the WLAN Adapter (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Not
Linked)
• Whether the WLAN Adapter is connected to a network (Blue:
Connected, Gray: Not Connected)
Taskbar Icon and Status
Wireless Status Icons (on the taskbar)
Excellent link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Good link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Fair link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Poor link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Not linked but connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Excellent link quality but not connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Good link quality but not connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Fair link quality but not connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Poor link quality but not connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
Not linked and not connected to Internet (Infrastructure)
ASUS WLAN Control Center
ASUS WLAN Control Center is an application which makes it easier to launch
WLAN applications and activate network location settings. The WLAN Control
Center starts automatically when system boots. When WLAN Control Center is
running, you can see a Control Center icon on the Windows taskbar.
Starting the Control Center
• Select ASUS WLAN Control Center in Windows Start
menu, or
• Double-click the ASUS WLAN Control Center icon on the desktop.
3. Software Reference

12 ASUS WLAN Adapter
Chapter 3 - Software Reference
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Software Reference
Taskbar icon - Left-click menu
Left-click the taskbar icon to show the following
menu items:
• Wireless Radio On – Click to turn the
wireless radio ON.
• Wireless Radio Off – Click to turn the
wireless radio OFF.
• Search & Connect – Click to view the properties of available access
points.
• Wireless Option (Windows®XP only) – Click to choose Windows®
Wireless Zero Conguration (WZC) service or ASUS utilities to congure
your WLAN Adapter.
Taskbar Icon - Launch Wireless Settings
Double-click the taskbar icon to launch the Wireless Settings utility.
Taskbar icon - Right-click menu
Right-click the taskbar icon to show the following menu items:
• Wireless Settings – Click to launch Wireless Settings application.
• Activate Conguration – Click to choose a preset prole.
• WPS – Click to launch Wireless Protected Setup application.
• Preferences – Click to customize the Control Center program. You can
create a Control Center shortcut on the desktop and decide whether to
start Control Center when system boots.
• About Control Center-Shows the version of Control Center.
• Help – Click to launch the help le.
• Exit – Click to close the Control Center program.
Taskbar Left-Click Menu

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Status - Status
You can view the information about the
WLAN Adapter from the Status menu. The
status elds are blank if the WLAN Adapter
is not installed. You can turn off the WLAN
Adapter by clicking the
“Disable Radio” button.
Association State
Displays the connection status as follows:
Connected - The adapter is now associated with one wireless LAN device. When operating in
Infrastructure mode, this eld shows the MAC address of the access point with which the WLAN
Adapter is communicating. When operating in Ad Hoc mode, this eld shows the virtual MAC
address used by computers participating in the Ad Hoc network.
ASUS Wireless Settings Utility
Wireless Settings is an application for managing the WLAN Adapter. Use Wireless
Settings to view or modify the conguration settings, or to monitor the operational
status of your WLAN Adapter. When Wireless Settings is launched, you can
see the tabbed property sheets which categorize the conguration options into
groups.
Starting Wireless Settings
• Click the Windows Start button, select Programs | ASUS Utility |
WLAN card | Wireless Settings.
or
• Right-click the Control Center icon on the Windows taskbar and
select Wireless Settings.
NOTE: If you have more than one ASUS WLAN device installed on your
computer, you may see a device selection window when you launch the
“Wireless Settings” utility. Select the device you want when such situation
occurs.

14 ASUS WLAN Adapter
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Software Reference
Scanning... : The station is trying to authenticate and associate with an access point or Ad Hoc
node.
Disconnected: The WLAN Adapter is installed to the system, but not yet connected to a wireless
device.
SSID:
Displays the Service Set Identier (SSID) of the device that the adapter
is either associated or intending to join.
MAC address:
Shows the hardware address of the WLAN Adapter. MAC
address is a unique identier for networking devices (typically written as twelve
hexadecimal digits from 0 through 9 and A through F separated by colons, i.e.
00:E0:18:F0:05:C0).
Current Channel:
Displays the radio channel to which the adapter
is currently tuned. This number changes as the radio scans the available
channels.
Current Data Rate:
Displays the current data rate in megabits per second
(Mbps).
Radio State:
Shows the wireless radio status: ON or OFF.
Radio On - When the wireless radio is turned ON, the icon on the right
appears in the upper left of the Status page.
Radio Off - When the wireless radio is turned OFF, the icon on the right
appears in the upper left of the Status page.
Buttons
Rescan – Make the WLAN Adapter rescan all available devices. If the current
link quality or signal strength is poor, rescanning can be used to push the radio
off a weak access point and search for a better link with another access point.
This function usually takes several seconds.
Change SSID – Click this button to set the SSID to that of the AP you want to
connect.
Search & Connect – Click this button to connect to an available wireless AP.
NOTE: For 802.11n performance, select 40MHz bandwidth in wireless
router. Channel option depends on the bandwidth that you select.

ASUS WLAN Adapter 15
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Software Reference
Activate Conguration
Auto roaming is enabled by default and makes
the adapter automatically switch to APs with better
signal. You can uncheck it if you want to connect to
a specied AP using a particular prole.
Status - Connection
You can view the current link statistics about the
WLAN Adapter. These statistics are updated
once per second and are valid if the WLAN
Adapter is correctly installed.
Throughput
Transmitted - The number of frames that
were transmitted.
Received - The number of frames that were received.
Frame Error
Transmitted - The number of frames that were not successfully transmitted.
Received - The number of frames that were not successfully received.
Connection Quality
Signal Strength/Link Quality - Shows the signal strength/link quaility of the
access point or Ad Hoc node the WLAN Adapter is currently connected to.
Ratings are: Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor.
Overall Connection Quality
The overall connection quality is derived from the current signal strength. A
graphic chart uses percentage to show signal quality.

16 ASUS WLAN Adapter
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Software Reference
Status - IP Cong
IP Cong tab shows all the current host and
WLAN Adapter information including host
name, DNS servers, IP address, Subnet
Mask and Default Gateway.
Button
IP Release - If you want to remove the
current IP address, click this button to release the IP address from DHCP
server.
IP Renew - If you want to obtain a new IP address from DHCP server, click this
button to renew the IP address.
Ping - Click this button to open “Ping” tab which is used to ping the devices in
your network.
NOTE: The IP Release and IP Renew buttons can only be used on the
WLAN Adapter which gets IP address from DHCP server.
Status - Ping
Click the "Ping" button in Status-IP Cong
tab to open this page. The Ping tab allows
you to verify the accessibility of other
computers or network devices. To ping a
connection:
1. Type the IP address of the device you want to
verify in the IP Address eld.
2. Congure the ping session by assigning the ping packet size and number of packet
to send, and the timeout value (in milliseconds).
3. Click the “Ping” button.
During the ping session, the Ping button Changes into a Stop button. To cancel
the ping session, click the “Stop” button.
The session eld displays information on the veried connection including the
roundtrip time (minimum, maximum, and average) and packets sent, received,
and lost after a ping session.
Click the “Clear” button to clear the session eld.

ASUS WLAN Adapter 17
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Chapter 3
Software Reference
Cong - Basic
This page enables you to change the WLAN
Adapter congurations.
Network Type
Infrastructure – Infrastructure means to
establish a connection with an access point.
Once connected, the access point allows
you to access wireless LAN and wired LAN (Ethernet). The Channel eld turns
to Auto if the connection is based on Infrastructure.
Ad Hoc – Ad Hoc means to communicate directly with other wireless clients
without using an access point. An “Ad Hoc” network can be setup quickly
and easily without pre-planning, for example, sharing meeting notes between
attendants in a meeting room.
Network Name (SSID)
SSID stands for “Service Set Identier”, which is a string used to identify a
wireless LAN. Use the SSID to connect with a known access point. You can
enter a new SSID or select one from the drop-down list box. If you get connected
by designating the SSID, you are only to connect the AP with the SSID you
assigned. If the AP is removed from the network, your WLAN Adapter does not
roam automatically to other APs. SSIDs must all be printable characters and
having a maximum of 32 case sensitive characters, such as “ Wireless”.
Channel
The Channel eld is for setting radio channel. Your WLAN Adapter can
automatically select the correct channel to communicate with a wireless device,
and the parameter is xed to "Auto" in both Infrastructure and Ad Hoc mode.
The available radio channels depend on the regulations in your country. For
the United States (FCC) and Canada (IC), channel 1 to 11 are supported. For
Europe (ETSI), channel 1 to 13 are supported. For Japan (MKK), channel 1 to
14 are supported.
NOTE: Click Apply to save and activate the new congurations.
Others
Encryption – Click this link to show the "Encryption" tab.

18 ASUS WLAN Adapter
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Cong - Advanced
Click Advanced link on Cong-Basic page
to show this tab. This tab allows you to set
up additional parameters for the wireless
Adapter. We recommend using the default
values for all items in this window.
RTS Threshold (0-2347)
The RTS/CTS (Request to Send/Clear to Send) function is used to minimize
collisions among wireless stations. When RTS/CTS is enabled, the router
refrains from sending a data frame until another RTS/CTS handshake is
completed. Enable RTS/CTS by setting a specic packet size threshold. The
default value (2347) is recommended.
Fragmentation Threshold (256-2346)
Fragmentation is used to divide 802.11 frames into smaller pieces (fragments)
that are sent separately to the destination. Enable fragmentation by setting
a specic packet size threshold. If there is an excessive number of collisions
on the WLAN, experiment with different fragmentation values to increase the
reliability of frame transmissions. The default value (2346) is recommended for
normal use.
Advanced – Click this link to show the "Advanced" tab. In most cases, the
default values do not have to be changed.

ASUS WLAN Adapter 19
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Network Authentication
Since there is no precise bound in wireless
LANs, the WLAN users need to implement
certain mechanism to provide security
solution. The Authentication policies in this
tab provide protection of different levels such
as Open, Shared, WPA-PSK, WPA, WPA2
and WPA2-PSK.
Open - Select this option to make the network operate on Open System mode,
which use no authentication algorithm. Open stations and APs can authenticate
with each other without checking any WEP Key, even if there is.
Shared - Select this option to make the network operate on Shared key mode.
In a Share Key Authentication system, four-step exchange of frames is required
to validate that the station is using the same WEP Key as the access point.
WPA-PSK/ WPA2-PSK - Select this option to enable WPA Pre-Shared Key
under Infrastructure mode. It enables communication between your client and
APs using WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryption mode.
WPA/ WPA2 - The network is operating in IEEE 802.1x authentication mode.
This mode is for environments with RADIUS (Remote Access Dial-in User
Service). In a RADIUS environment, ve Extensible Authentication Protocol
(EAP) are supported, including PEAP, TLS/Smart Card, TTLS, LEAP and Md5-
Challenge.
Cong - Encryption
This page enables you to congure the Wireless LAN Adapter encryption
settings. For data condentiality in a wireless environment, IEEE 802.11
species a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm to offer transmission
privacy. The WEP uses keys to encrypt and decrypt data packets. The
encryption process can scramble frame bits to avoid disclosure to others. The
WPA/WPA2 is improved security system for 802.11 which are developed to
overcome the weakness of the WEP protocol.

20 ASUS WLAN Adapter
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Data encryption
For Open and Shared authentication mode, the conguration options of
encryption type are Disabled and WEP. For WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2 and
WPA2-PSK authentication mode, Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
encryption and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption are supported.
Disabled - Disable the encryption function.
WEP - WEP Key is used to encrypt your data before it is transmitted over air.
You can only connect and communicate with wireless devices that use the
same WEP keys.
TKIP - TKIP uses an encryption algorithm method that is more stringent than
the WEP algorithm. It also uses existing WLAN calculation facilities to perform
encryption. TKIP veries the security conguration after the encryption keys are
determined.
AES: AES is a symmetric 128-bit block encryption technique that works
simultaneously on multiple network layers.
Wireless Network Key
This option is enabled only if you select WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK authentication
mode. Select “TKIP” or “AES” in the encryption led as encryption mode to
begin the encryption proceed. Note: 8 to 64 characters are required in this eld.
Wireless Network Key (WEP)
This option is congurable only if you enable WEP in Network Authentication
eld. The WEP Key is a 64 bits (5 byte) or 128 bits (13 byte) Hexadecimal
digits which is used to encrypt and decrypt data packets.
Key Format
You can select to enter Hexadecimal digits (0~9, a~f, and A~F) or ASCII
characters to setup keys by dening the Key Format.
Key Length
For 64 bits encryption, each key contains 10 hex digits or 5 ASCII characters.
For 128 bits encryption, each key contains 26 hex digits or 13 ASCII characters.
Manual assign WEP keys - When you select this option, the cursor appears
in the eld for Key 1. For 64-bit encryption, you are required to enter four WEP
Keys. Each Key contains exactly 10 hex digits (0~9, a~f, and A~F). For 128-bit
encryption, you are required to enter four WEP Keys. Each Key contains
exactly 26 hex digits (0~9, a~f, and A~F).