The following information supplements the information in the Dell Wireless WLAN Card User Guide.

October 2006

Manual Addenda

Introduction: Dell Wireless WLAN Card User Guide

Types of Wireless Networks The two types of wireless networks are infrastructure networks and ad hoc networks. An infrastructure network is also referred to as an access point (AP) network, and an ad hoc network is also referred to as a peer-to-peer network or a computer-to-computer network. The infrastructure type of network is the type most commonly used in both home and corporate environments. Access point and ad hoc networks should be configured to use the non-overlapping channels 1, 6, 11 or channel 14 when outside of the United States for optimal performance for 802.11b or 802.11g networks. Channels 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 are overlapping channels and could reduce your performance due to interference.

Setting Advanced Properties

Disable Bands The Disable Bands property will be changed to None for both fresh installations and upgrade installations with the installation of this driver package. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------WMM Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM). The WMM property enables quality of service for audio, video, and voice applications over a wireless network by prioritizing streams of content and optimizing the way the network allocates bandwidth among competing applications. Auto (default). With WMM set to Auto, when the wireless client connects to the AP, and the AP has Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery (UAPSD) enabled, the wireless client is allowed to enter Power Save mode. If the AP does not support UAPSD, the wireless client cannot enter Power Save mode. If this is the case, the battery in the client computer discharges more quickly and must be recharged more frequently. Enabled. The wireless client enters Power Save mode for WMM associations independent of whether the AP has UAPSD enabled or disabled. Disabled. The wireless client does not have WMM association. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------IBSS Mode

IBSS Mode is used to set the connection type in an ad hoc network. The following options are available for single-band (2.4 GHz band) adapters: 802.11b Only (default) 802.11b/g Auto Links with IEEE 802.11b networks at up to 11Mbps. Links with IEEE 802.11g and 802.11b networks at up to 54Mbps.

The following options are available for dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) adapters: 802.11b Only (default) 802.11a/b/g Auto 802.11a/b/g/n Auto Links with IEEE 802.11b networks at up to 11Mbps or 802.11a at up to 54Mbps. Links with IEEE 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a networks at up to 54Mbps. Links with Draft IEEE 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b and 802.11a networks at up to 270Mbps.

NOTE: The "802.11a/b/g/n Auto" setting is only available for Dell Wireless WLAN cards that are Draft 802.11n capable. If your Dell Wireless WLAN card supports Draft 802.11n operation, you can connect to Draft IEEE 802.11n IBSS networks. The maximum rate achievable for a Draft IEEE 802.11n IBSS association is 270Mbps, but this is only achievable when joining a Draft IEEE 802.11n IBSS that was established to operate within a 40MHz bandwidth. The maximum rate for most Draft IEEE 802.11n IBSS networks will be 130Mbps. The maximum rate for Draft IEEE 802.11n IBSS networks founded by a Dell Wireless WLAN card is 130Mbps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------VLAN Priority Mode (also know as VLAN Priority Support) The VLAN Priority Mode property controls the introduction of VLAN-tagged packets to send priority information when your network connection is associated to nonQoS infrastructure devices. When this property is set to Auto or On, the NDIS driver always advertises QoS regardless of whether the WMM property is enabled or disabled. On transmit, when this property is set to On, and the Afterburner property is disabled, and the packet does not already contain a VLAN tag, and the priority is nonzero, and the association is non-WMM, a Priority tag is added to the 802.11 packet. On reception, when this property is set to On, and the Afterburner property is disabled, and the packet has a VLAN tag, and the VLAN ID is zero, the VLAN tag is stripped, and the priority from the tag is assigned to the packet. This stripping is done whether or not the association is WMM because WMM appendix A.6 indicates that WMM STAs must be able to accept VLAN-tagged packets. Auto On Off (default) Note: Fresh driver installations will result in a default of Off. This default is selected to support interoperability issues with Cisco's v4.8 VPN client. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

802.11h+d The 802.11h+d property configures the advanced radio control of the WLAN card by an associated access point. The controls are enabled when the 802.11h+d property is set to Loose 11h, Loose 11h+d, or Strict 11h. When the setting is Strict 11h, the Dell Wireless WLAN Card associates only to access points supporting IEEE 802.11h protocols when operating in regions with special restrictions on radio operation. When the setting is Loose 11h, the WLAN card does not restrict associations based on the access point IEEE 802.11h support. When the setting is Loose 11h+d, the Dell Wireless WLAN Card does not restrict associations based on the access point IEEE 802.11h or IEEE 802.11d support. Loose 11h (default) Loose 11h+d Strict 11h ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bandwidth Capability (option only available in Dell Wireless 1500 or future 802.11n based cards) The Bandwidth Capability property configures the bandwidth of each channel to the options shown below. The 20/40 MHz option indicates that both bandwidth capabilities are available and that the other end of the link may determine the ultimate bandwidth for a given link. The following options are available 11a/b/g:20MHz 11a/b/g:20/40MHz 11a:20/40MHz;11b/g:20MHz (default) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Troubleshooting
Problem or Symptom: After I installed a new Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN card, my computer fails to complete the startup process. Possible Solution: Update the system board in your computer with latest BIOS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Problem or Symptom: I cannot connect to a Cisco 1200 AP on channels 52, 56, 60, and 64. The AP fails to authenticate my connection. Possible Solution: The 802.11h property is enabled in Cisco 1200 APs. Affected channels are 52, 56, 60, and 64, and some countries restrict radio operations on these channels in certain regions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Problem or Symptom: I have the advanced property 'Disabled Upon Wired Connection' set but the feature is not working.

Possible Solution: The Dell Wireless utility must be installed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Problem or Symptom: The 'Radio Control Options' in Quickset is not working. Possible Solution: The Dell Wireless utility must be installed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Problem or Symptom: I tried to alter a locked preferred network connection but was unable to do so. Possible Solution: You must have system or administrator rights to be able to alter a locked preferred network connection. Locked preferred network connection profiles can only be overwritten by profiles which are exported by an Administrator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draft 802.11n Interoperability

The following 802.11n wireless routers/APs have been validated through testing to work at the time of product release: Netgear WNR834B FW 1.0.1.4 and later Linksys WRT300N FW 0.93.3 and later Buffalo WZR-G300N FW 1.43 and later NOTE: Regardless of the make of AP, wireless clients should always be able to connect to the AP at legacy link speeds. Users should check with the AP vendor for AP firmware and client software updates. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InstallShield Documentation
InstallShield has a number of command line options. None of the options listed below is case sensitive, and each may be used with a hyphen (-) or a forward slash (/). Separate multiple command-line switches with a space, but do not put a space inside a command-line switch (for example, /r /f1Install.iss is valid, but /r/f1 Install.iss is not). When you use long path and file name expressions with switches, enclose the expressions in double quotation marks. The double quotation marks indicate to the operating system that spaces within the quotation marks are not to be treated as command-line delimiters. Command line switch not listed will be ignored by the installer. -app Installs the Broadcom tray utility only, but not the driver. -on Turns Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Service off and configures the Broadcom tray utility to manage the network. /wlconfig:[file to import]

Imports preferred network profiles at the end of installation. This option does not support the hyphen (-) prefix. -f1[path\ResponseFile] Specifies an alternate location and name of the response file (.iss file). If this option is used when running InstallShield Silent, the response file is read from the folder/file specified by [path\ResponseFile]. If this option is used along with the -r option, the response file is written to the folder/file specified by[path\ResponseFile]. -l[language ID] Specifies the language in which the setup runs. [language ID] is a numeric language ID of the form 0xnnnn or simply nnnn. Notes: not all location codes (refer to http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/nlsweb/default.mspx) work and nnnn represents a HEX value. The setup runs in this language regardless of the default setup language specified in the IDE or the default language of the target system. This switch has no effect when the setup is running silently and a Lang key is set in the [Application] section of Setup.iss. Recording a response file (by running Setup.exe with the -r switch) sets the Lang key automatically; for the -l switch to affect a silent setup, this key must be deleted from the Setup.iss file. -r Causes Setup.exe automatically to generate a silent setup file (.iss file), which is a record of the setup input, in the Windows folder. Runs InstallShield Silent to execute a silent setup.

-s

-verbose Provides more detailed information when a Setup.exe error occurs. -sso: will disable the checking for 3rd party GINAs that override the default system GINA (MSGINA).