BenQ AWL-200 User manual

BENQ Corporationi
Wireless LAN Mini PCI
AWL-200
User Manual
Version 1.1
Oct. 2002

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Notice I
Copyright Statement
This manual cannot be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to
make any derivative such as translation, transformation, or adaptation without
the prior written permission of BenQ Corporation.
BenQ Corporation reserves the right to change this manual and the
specifications to improve products without prior notice. So you can get the
most recent software and user documentation for all BenQ Wireless LAN
products on our web site.
http://www.BenQ.com
Trademarks
Copyright © 2002 BenQ Corpora tion. All rights reserved.
Contents subject to change without prior notice. BenQ is a registered
trademark of BenQ Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their
respective proprietors.

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Notice II
FCC Warning
The AWL200 compiles with Part 15 of the FCC rules.
Operation is subject to the following two conditions.
(1)This device may not cause harmful interference.
(2)This device must accept any interference received, including interference
that may cause undesired operation.
Note:
The AWL200 has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a
Class B digital device and a low power transmitter, pursuant to Part 15 o
f
the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection
against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a
residential environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate
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 that interference will not occur in a
particular installation.

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Table of Contents
Wireless LAN Mini PCI...............................i
Chapter 1. Introduction...........................................................................1
Chapter 2. Installation .............................................................................2
Chapter 3. AWL200 Wireless Settings....................................................3
3.1 Status..............................................................................................................................5
3.2 Configuration...........................................................................................................7
3.3 Encryption..................................................................................................................9
3.4 Site Survey...............................................................................................................10
3.5 About............................................................................................................................11
Chapter 4. Trouble Shooting .................................................................12

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Chapter 1. Introduction
Thank you for purchasing a BENQ AWL200 Wireless LAN PC Card. The
AWL200 Wireless LAN PC Card lets you connect to your network and the
Internet without needing to be tethered to a fixed location by a physical cable,
while still getting the same data transfer rates as with traditional Ethernet. In
addition to allowing you to enjoy the wonders of wireless networking, the
AWL200 provides two operating modes—ad -hoc mode (peer-to-peer) and
infrastructure mode (station-to-AP)—t o meet to your varying needs at
different purposes.

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Chapter 2. Installation
1. Insert AWL200 Mini-PCI into your PC, and then Windows will show the
dialog – Add New Hardware Wizard.
2. Select Search for the best driver for your device. (Recommended).
and press Next button.
3. Select Specify a location and browse the BenQ Wireless LAN CD to find
AWL200. For example, if your CD-ROM has a drive D and you want to
install the English version of driver, the location is D:\AWL200\English.
4. Windows has found AWL200 Mini-PCI. Press Next button.
5. Please wait while coping files.
6. Press Finish.
Press Yes and restart your computer.

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Chapter 3. AWL200 Wireless Settings
You can launch AWL200 Wireless Settings utility by clicking the icon or from
Control Panel.

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3.1 Status
Status
The current state of the driver is displayed in this screen. If the state reveals
“Associated,“ it means that the normalflow of operation is in Infrastructure
mode. This shows that the PC is already connected to access point and
BSSID is also shown in the form of hex digits. At the same time, the
networking is available for the device.
In “Scanning ” state, it means thatthe node cannot detect the SSID to an
access point within range and is searching for an available access point. Also,
if the driver failed to initiate for some unknown reasons, this field will display
an error message.
Rescan
The driver will restart and beginning its Connection Procedure if the Rescan
button is pressed. In general, the connection procedure will be different
according to the Mode of the driver.

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Enable / Disable Radio
This button is used to enable or disable the radio of AWL200.
Current Tx Rate
This field shows the current transmit rate, which is being used for an active
connection.
Current Channel
This field shows the current radio channel, which is being used for an active
connection.
Throughput
The instantaneous wireless Receive and Transmit throughput are displayed in
bytes per second in this field. Every two seconds, these values are updated.
Link Quality
This field reveals the quality of the current connection. Only when the node is
in Infrastructure Mode does the Link Quality bar graph become active. The
bar graph displays the link quality between the node and its Access Point.
Over the bar graph, a label summarizes the quality of the link, which can take
on one of the following values:
“Not Applicable”
“Poor”
“Fair”
“Good”
“Excellent”
When the Link Quality becomes “Poor,” the driver will start to look for a better
Access Point. As a result, the Link Quality is a very good indicator of receiving
and transmitting errors over the radio.
Signal Strength
The Signal Strength bar graph only becomes active, when the node is in
Infrastructure Mode. This bar graph shows normalized signal strength as
reported by the radio, averaged over all frames over 100 bytes long, which
are received from the Access Point.
Status information about the radio link is displayed in this tab. Detailed

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description should be placed in this field.
3.2 Configuration
Defaults: It restores each field in the panel to its default value by pressing
this button. However, before the default values are saved or
loaded to the driver and registry, the Apply button or OK button
must be pressed.
Apply: Only when one of the fields has been modified does this button
become active. Press this button to apply the changed values to
the driver and saves them to the registry for the next time when
the PC boots up.
Several fields illustrated as following are offered by the
Configuration Tab. Operating parameters of the driver can be viewed or changed
here. Under the circumstances, changes to any of the parameters in this panel
can be applied to the driver without the need to reboot the PC.
NOTE

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Profile Name
These settings will be stored by the given name.
Network Name
This field shows the network name or called SSID, which your AWL200 will be
associated with. If “ANY” is the name showed, it means any network name
could be associated with.
Network Type
You can select from a list of supporting network types in this field. The
network types displayed will have two values as following: “Access Point” and
“Peer-to-Peer”.
Access Point (Infrastructure)
This is an operation mode, which requires the existence of an 802.11 Access
Point. Owing to the existence of the Access Point, all communication is done
via the Access Point, which relays packets to other wireless Clients in the
BSS as well as to nodes on a wired network such as Ethernet.
Peer-to-Peer (Ad Hoc)
This is a non-compliant mode, which will allow AWL200 cards to talk to one
another without an AP.

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3.3 Encryption
According to WEP function select, this page allows the entry of four keys for
64-bit and 128-bit encryption. Each key must consist of hex digits to be
written to the driver and registry. This means that only digit number 0-9 and
letters A-F are valid entries. Therefore, if entered incorrectly, the program will
not write keys to a driver. You can also use Alphanumeric or Passphrase to
create keys.
- Key 1 – Key 4
When you want to enter the keys manually, you may use these four
fields. If you wish this node to match keys in a different vendor’s product,
this may be necessary.
- Apply
You may also update the driver with the four keys displayed in Key field
by pressing this button. The keys are also written to the registry for
permanent storage. This button clears all the bytes in the four keys. It’s
very useful when you wish to start over or enter manually.

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3.4 Site Survey
Rescan
This button will scan all available Access Points in your neighborhood and
then list their SSID, channel, BSSID, signal, WEP state and network type,
respectively.
Join
Select the SSID you want to be associated with, and then press this Join
button to join this network.

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3.5 About
You may learn the product version including the detail of Network Driver,
Configuration Utility, and NIC firmware version from this “About” tab. When
users wish to report their problems to our technical support, they must have
this version number.

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Chapter 4. Trouble Shooting
Question 1
What should the users do when the signal icon Cable Disconnected
appeared right after pressing the ReScan or Disable Radio button under
Peer-to-Peer (Ad-hoc) mode?
Answer 1
Please remove the BenQ AWL200 from the MINI-PCI slot and re-insert the
device again, and then it will connect the user back on line.
Question 2
What if the user’s PC is unable to connect to the other PC right after
switching the network type from access point mode to Peer-to-Peer mode?
Answer 2
Please make sure the SSID for both PC are the same and the IP address are
in the same subnet. If both SSID and IP address are checked and the same,
but the PC is still in disconnection mode, then please remove the BenQ
AWL200 from the MINI-PCI slot and re-insert the device again to connect
back online.
Question 3
What if the user is unable to alliance with the new association after moving
from one AP service set to another under the Access Point (Infrastructure)
mode?
Answer 3
Please ensure that the SSID is the same for both APs and PC. If the SSID
is correct, then please press the ReScan button in the Status menu, and then
it should create new association for the device with the AP.