NETGEAR MA301 Reference Manual
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NETGEAR MA301 Reference Manual

802.11b wireless pci adapter
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Summary of Contents for NETGEAR MA301

  • Page 2 In the interest of improving internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document without notice. NETGEAR does not assume any liability that may occur due to the use or application of the product(s) or circuit layout(s) described herein.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION     ENEFITS   EATURES NETGEAR   ELATED PRODUCTS CHAPTER 2: WIRELESS NETWORK FUNDAMENTALS     IRELESS ETWORK ONFIGURATION (SS ID)   ERVICE DENTIFICATION WEP E   UTHENTICATION AND...

  • Page 4: Chapter 1: Introduction

    CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The MA301 802.11b Wireless PCI Adapter enables you to effortlessly network any desktop PC avoiding the hassles of traditional Ethernet wiring and helps you create a wireless network for sharing your broadband cable or DSL Internet access among multiple PCs in and around your home or office. It is designed for desktop computers equipped with PCI slots running Microsoft Windows.

  • Page 5: Chapter 2: Wireless Network Fundamentals

    CHAPTER 2: WIRELESS NETWORK FUNDAMENTALS Wireless Network Configuration Ad-hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer Workgroup) The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for wireless LANs (WLANs), 802.11, offers two methods for configuring a wireless network — ad hoc and infrastructure. In an ad hoc network, computers are brought together as needed;...

  • Page 6: Service Set Identification

    Service Set Identification (SS ID) The Service Set Identification (SS ID) is a thirty-two alphanumeric character (maximum) string identifying the wireless local area network. Some vendors refer to the SS ID as network name. For stations to communicate with each other, all stations must be configured with the same SS ID. A wireless LAN consisting of nodes operating in ad hoc configuration without an access point is called a Basic Service Set (BSS).

  • Page 7: Wireless Channel Selection

    Wireless Channel Selection IEEE 802.11 wireless nodes communicate with each other using radio frequency signals in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band between 2.4Ghz and 2.5Ghz. Neighboring channels are 5Mhz apart. However, due to spread spectrum effect of the signals, a node sending signals using a particular channel will utilize frequency spectrum12.5Mhz above and below the center channel frequency.

  • Page 8: Chapter 3: Hardware Installation

    The wireless interface of the MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter remains outside of the desktop PC chassis when the PC card is inserted into the PCMCIA slot of the MA301 PCI adapter. The green LED on the MA401 PC card indicates the wireless link condition of the station with another wireless node or the associated access point.

  • Page 9: Chapter 4: Driver Installation

    CHAPTER 4: Driver Installation Windows 95/B Driver Software The MA301 LAN driver in the release driver CD-ROM only supports Windows 95/B and above. The LAN drivers for the original versions of Windows 95 or Windows 95A are not provided. Installing Driver Software...

  • Page 10: Windows 98 Driver Software

    Windows 98 Driver Software Installing Driver Software To install the NETGEAR MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter LAN driver for the first time in Windows 98: Follow the procedure described in the hardware installation chapter to install the MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter and the MA401 PC Card into your desktop system. Power up the system.

  • Page 11: Windows Millennium Driver Software

    Windows Millennium Driver Software Installing Driver Software To install the NETGEAR MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter LAN driver for the first time in Windows Millennium: Follow the procedure described in the hardware installation chapter to install the MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter into your desktop system. Power up the system.

  • Page 12: Windows Nt 4.0 Driver Software

    Double-click on Control Panel. Double-click on the Device icon. A list of devices installed in the system will be shown. Scroll down the list to locate the NETGEAR MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter entry. The PCI adapter entry should indicate that the MA301 PCI adapter is started.

  • Page 13: Windows 2000 Driver Software

    Type in “D:\MA301\WIN2K” assuming that D: is the driver letter for the CD-ROM drive. Windows searches into the driver CD and locate the driver for the MA301 PCI adapter. Verify that the Windows has found the driver in the “D:\MA301\WIN2000” directory. Click on “Next”.

  • Page 14: Chapter 5: Wireless Lan Configuration

    From the Windows desktop, right-click on the Network Neighborhood icon. When a pop-up menu opens, move to select the Properties selection. The Network windows opens, Click on the Adapter folder tab. Click on NETGEAR MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter in the window. Click on Properties to modify any wireless parameters. When running Windows 2000 Configuring the network adapter properties for Windows 2000 is different from all other Windows operating systems.
  • Page 15 Device Properties Modification Table 5-1. Device Properties Parameters General Specifications Model MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter Network Type Configurable between 802.11 ad hoc, ad hoc, and infrastructure modes. In 802.11 ad hoc mode, the wireless nodes form their own local network where the end nodes communicate peer-to-peer without an access point.

  • Page 16: Wlan Configuration Utility

    Windows desktop, double-click on My Computer . Double-click on the CD-ROM drive letter to look into the content of the CD. Double-click on the MA301 folder and then double-click on the UTILITY folder. The \MA301\UTILITY directory of the CD is now open.
  • Page 17 It displays interface icons for memory-resident applications that execute in the background continuously, such as the clock, speaker volume, and virus detection. The wireless LAN configuration utility installation for the MA301 Wireless PCI Adapter adds a status reporting and configuration utility icon in the SysTray. Once you have completed the installation, the Windows SysTray should show the following icon in different colors.
  • Page 18 configurations are 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5Mbps and 11Mbps. In ad hoc mode, this field shows what the wireless node is configured to use. When in infrastructure mode, it shows the result of the transfer rate negotiated between the access point and the wireless node. Rescan Only used in infrastructure mode, click on this button to allow the wireless node to start scanning the wireless channels for an access point...
  • Page 19     Encryption Encryption Set the data encryption level for the wireless node. The data encryption level must be the same between all wireless nodes and access points in the same network. The possible values for the data encryption level are Disable, 64 bits and 128 bits.

  • Page 20: Appendix A: Hardware Specification

    APPENDIX A: HARDWARE SPECIFICATION General Specifications Model MA301 802.11b Wireless PCI Adapter Radio Data Rate 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps (Auto Rate Sensing) Frequency 2.4Ghz to 2.5Ghz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Range outdoor environment indoor environment 1Mbps - 1650 ft (503 m)

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