Ralink WLAN USB Adapter for 802.11b/g User manual

User Manual
WLAN USB Adapter for
802.11b/g

Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Start ...................................................................... 3
Minimum System Requirements .................................................................................. 3
Optimize Wireless Performance ................................................................................... 3
Installation................................................................................................................. 5
Uninstall .................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 2 Management Guide .......................................................... 10
Makin a Basic Network Connection .......................................................................... 10
Chapter 3 Introduction to the Wireless LAN tility ......................... 13
Utility Interfaces....................................................................................................... 13
Network................................................................................................................... 15
Profile...................................................................................................................... 16
Advanced................................................................................................................. 18
Statistics.................................................................................................................. 19
WMM....................................................................................................................... 20
WPS ........................................................................................................................ 21
SSO......................................................................................................................... 22
CCX ......................................................................................................................... 23
Radio On/Off............................................................................................................ 24
About ...................................................................................................................... 25
Chapter 4 AP mode management guide ........................................... 26
Control Menu ........................................................................................................... 27
Confi Settin .......................................................................................................... 28
Access Control ......................................................................................................... 30
MAC Table................................................................................................................ 31
Event Lo ................................................................................................................ 32
Statistics.................................................................................................................. 33
About ...................................................................................................................... 34

Chapter 1 Getting Start
Minimum System Requirements
Pentium
®
300 MHz or hi her compatible processor
At least one available USB 2.0 or 1.1 port
The installation CD
5Mbytes free hard disk space.
Windows 2000, XP, XP professional, Vista, or Windows 7.
If you do not have a USB 2.0 port on your computer, the throu hput of the USB
adapter will be limited to the 14 Mbps of the USB 1.1 standard.
Windows XP users must install SP2 or above for the Hot fix which fixes the USB 2.0
Host controller driver.
Before you proceed with the installation, please notice the followin descriptions.
If you have installed the WLAN USB driver & utility before, please uninstall the old
version first.
The followin installation was operated under Windows XP. (Procedures are similar
for Windows 98SE/Me/2000.)
The installation uide herein is operated under Windows system. For Linux or Mac
driver installation uide, please refer to the instruction in README at directory the
driver has stored in CD-Rom.
Optimize Wireless Performance
The speed and wireless covera e ran e of your connection can vary si nificantly based on the
location of AP/router. You should choose a location for your AP/router that will maximize the
network performance.
You can refer to the followin methods to maximize AP/router performance.
Choose placement carefully for your AP/Router.
Place your AP/router at the center amon your computers.
Place your AP/router at an elevated location.

Avoid obstacles to wireless signals.
Keep your wireless devices far away from metallic file cabinets, refri erators, pipes,
metal ceilin s, reinforced concrete, and metal partitions.
Keep away from lar e amounts of water such as fish tanks and water coolers.
Reduce interference
Keep away from computers, cordless phones, cell phone, copin machine and fax
machines.
Keep away from microwave oven.
Site survey nearby wireless devices to determine your operatin channel.

Installation
1. If you insert the Wireless LAN USB Adaptor into your computer USB port, the followin
hardware setup wizard will pop up. Click Cancel to install driver from installation CD.
2. Insert your installation CD into CD drive of your computer. An installation pa e will pop up
for you to install. Click tility Driver.
If the installation pa e does not appear, double click CD-ROM drive the installation CD
was inserted to, or open the CD-ROM drive then click Autorun.exe
3. Clink checkbox to accept the terms of license a reement, then click Next

4. Select setup type for installing bot driver and WLAN utility or install driver only.
C oose Install driver and WLAN utility, t en click ext
If you choose to install driver only, refer to the note on next step .
5. Select if you are oin to confi ure your wireless network with WLAN utility or with
Microsoft Zero Confi uration tool. Choose WLAN Utility then click next.
Type of confi uration tool can be chan ed after installin this software .
If you choose to install driver only on step 4, the installation will skip this step .
Windows Zero Confi uration will be the default and only tool for mana in your
wireless network.

6. Click Install to begin the installation.
7. Click Finish to complete installation.

Uninstall
A. Uninstall the WLAN USB Adaptor Driver from start menu, All Programs, Ralink
Wireless, click Uninstall or Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, Ralink
RT2870 Wireless LAN Card, click Remove to remove Wireless LAN USB Adaptor
driver.

B. Click Yes if you want to remove Wireless LAN USB Adaptor driver.
C. Click Finish to complete uninstall.

Chapter 2 Management Guide
Making a Basic etwork Connection
Select a configuration tool
In the followin instruction for makin a network connection, we use WLAN utility to confi ure
your wireless network settin s that was installed as the steps in previous chapter.
To connect with 802.11 bgn Wireless LAN tility
As default, the WLAN Utility is started automatically upon startin your computer and connects
to the first available network. It is typically a network with the best si nal stren th amon
unsecured network. To chan e the connection to your own network, ri ht click the
icon on system tray and select Launch Config tility. The pop up WLAN
confi uration utility allows you to quickly connect the network you intend to.
To join your tar et network, in Network tab, click on tar et network then Connect. Choose the
security type of your network and type your security key, click on OK to complete a basic
network connection.
Strongest Unsecured Network
Target Network

To connect with Microsoft Zero Configuration
To switch between the confi uration tools, please ri ht click on the icon on system
tray. Select se Zero Configuration as Configuration tility
, double click on icon on system tray. T e Zero Configuration pop up and s ow
available wireless networks. Select your demanding network and click Connect

A pop up dialo allow you to setup your security key, then click Connect to join a network by
Zero confi uration.

Chapter 3 Introduction to the Wireless LA Utility
Utility Interfaces
T is Utility is basically consisted of t ree parts:
1. Button Section: on top of the window. Include buttons for selectin the Profile pa e,
Network pa e, Advanced pa e, Statistics pa e, WMM pa e, WPS pa e, the About button,
Radio On/Off button and Help.
2. Function Section: center of the Utility window. Appears to present information and options
related to the button.
3. Status Section: bottom of the utility window. This section includes information about the
link status, authentication status, AP's information and confi uration, and retryin the
connection when authentication is failed.
Button Section
Function Section
Status Section

When startin utility, a small utility icon appears in the system tray of the taskbar.
You can double click it to maximize the dialo box if you selected to close it earlier. You may also
use the mouse's ri ht button to close utility.
Additionally, the small icon will chan e color to reflect current wireless network connection
status. The status is shown as follows:
: Indicates the connected and si nal stren th is ood.
: Indicates the connected and si nal stren th is normal.
: Indicates that it is not yet connected.
: Indicates that a wireless NIC can not be detected.
: Indicates that the connection and si nal stren th is weak.

etwork
Items Information
Status Shows the connectin status. Also shows the SSID while connectin to a valid
network.
Extra Info Display link status in use.
Channel Display current channel in use.
Authentication Authentication mode in use.
Encryption Encryption type in use.
Network Type Network type in use.
IP Address IP address of current connection.
Sub Mask Subnet mask of current connection.
Default Gateway Default ateway of current connection.
Link Speed Show current transmit rate and receive rate.
Throughput Display transmit and receive throu hput in Mbps.
Link Quality Display connection quality based on si nal stren th and TX/RX packet error rate.
Signal Strength 1 Receive si nal stren th 1, user can choose to display as percenta e or dBm format.
Signal Strength 2 Receive si nal stren th 2, user can choose to display as percenta e or dBm format.
Signal Strength 3 Receive si nal stren th 3, user can choose to display as percenta e or dBm format.
Noise Strength Display noise si nal stren th.
HT Display current HT status in use, containin BW, GI, MCS, SNR0, and SNR1 value.

Profile
T is profile page allows users to save different wireless settings, w ic elps users
to get access to wireless networks at ome, office or ot er wireless network
environments quickly.
Items Information
Profile Name Choose a name for this profile, or use default name defined by system.
SSID Fill in the intended SSID name or use the drop list to select from available Aps.
Network Type There are two types, infrastructure and 802.11 Ad-hoc modes. Under Ad-hoc
mode, you could also choose the preamble type; the available preamble type
includes auto and lon . In addition to that, the channel field will be available for
setup in Ad-hoc mode.
Authentication Authentication mode.
Encryption Encryption mode.
se 802.1x Whether or not use 802.1x feature.
Channel Channel in use for Ad-Hoc mode.
Power Save Mode Choose from CAM (Constantly Awake Mode) or PSM (Power Savin Mode).
Tx Power Transmit po
wer, the amount of power used by a radio transceiver to send the si nal
out.
RTS Threshold For adjustin the RTS threshold number by slidin the bar or key in the value
directly. The default value is 2347.
Fragment Threshold
Adjust the Fra ment threshold number by slidin the bar or key in the value
directly. The default value is 2346.
To add a new profile:
Click the Add button. The add profile dialo pops up.
you could also add a new profile quickly by selectin an available network in the
Network function then click the Add to Profile button.
There are three sub-tabs for fill in information:
1. System Config: to fill in wireless information of the network

2. Auth./Encry.: to fill in wireless encryption or authentication information.
Click se 802.1X checkbox will enable 802.1x tab
3. 802.1x: to confi ure the authentication information for 802.1x

Advanced
This pa e provides advanced confi urations to this adapter. Please refer to the followin chart
for definitions of each item.
Items Information
Wireless mode Click the drop list to select a wireless mode.
Enable TX Burst Select to enable connectin to a TX Burst supported device.
Enable TCP Window Size Mark the checkbox to enable TCP window size, which help enhance
throu hput.
Fast Roaming at __ dBm
Mark the checkbox to enable fast roamin . Specify the transmit power for
fast roamin .
Show Authentication Status
Dialog
Mark the checkbox to show “Authentication Status Dialo ” while
connectin to an AP with authentication. Authentication Status Dialo
displays the process about 802.1 x authentications.
TX Rate Manually select the transfer rate. The default settin is auto. (802.11n
wireless cards do not allow the user to select the TX Rate.)
Select Your Country Region
Code
Ei ht countries to choose. Channel list:
Classification Ran e
0: FCC (Canada) CH1 ~ CH11
1: ETSI CH1 ~ CH13
2: SPAIN CH10 ~ CH11
3: FRANCE CH10 ~ CH13
4: MKK CH14 ~ CH14
5: MKKI (TELEC) CH1 ~ CH14
6: ISRAEL CH3 ~ CH9
7: ISRAEL CH5 ~ CH13

Statistics
Statistics pa e displays the detail counter information based on 802.11 MIB counters. This pa e
translates the MIB counters into a format easier for user to understand.
Items Information
Frames Transmitted Successfully Frames successfully sent.
Frames Retransmitted Successfully Successfully retransmitted frames numbers.
Frames Fail To Receive ACK After All Retries
Frames failed transmit after hittin retry limit.
Reset Counter Reset counters to zero.
Items Information
Frames Received Successfully Frames received successfully.
Frames Received With CRC Error Frames received with CRC error.
Frames Dropped Due To Out-of-Resource Frames dropped due to resource issue.
Duplicate Frames Received Duplicate received frames.
Reset Counter Reset counters to zero.

WMM
This pa e allows users to activate the WMM function for this device. Please note that this
function only works while connectin to a WMM compatible device.
Items Information
WMM Enable Enable Wi-Fi Multi-Media.
WMM - Power Save Enable Enable WMM Power Save. Please enable WMM before confi urin
this function.
Direct Link Setup Enable Enable DLS (Direct Link Setup). Please enable WMM before
confi urin this function.
MAC Address Fill in the blanks of Direct Link with MAC Address of STA.
Timeout Value Time of
automatically disconnect after some seconds. The value is
inte er. The inte er must be between 0~65535. It represents that
it always connects if the value is zero. Default value of Timeout
Value is 60 seconds.
Apply / Tear Down After fill in the "MAC Address" and "Timeout Value", click "Apply"
button to save your confi uration. The result will appear in the
blanks. To remove the confi uration, please select the
confi uration in the blanks and then click "Tear Down" button.