The following information supplements the information in the Dell Wireless WLAN

Card User Guide.

March 2007

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.
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WLAN Adapter Features

New for this release

•Draft IEEE 802.11n operation (2.4-GHz frequency band and 5-GHz frequency
band) with a network data rate of up to 270 Mbit/s for 40 MHz bandwidth
channel and 130 Mbit/s for 20 MHz bandwidth channel

•Corrected an issue with the ‘Disable Upon Wired Connect’ advanced property

•Added Support for the Dell Wireless 1505 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card

NOTE: The Wi-Fi Catcher™ feature is not supported with the Dell Wireless
1505 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card on the following systems: D820, M65,
D420, and D620

The Dell Wireless WLAN Card works with any IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
wireless router/AP or wireless client network adapter
NOTE: Not all Dell Wireless WLAN Card models support IEEE 802.11a (5-GHz)
or IEEE 802.11n operation.

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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.

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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.

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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) Links with IEEE 802.11b networks at up to 11Mbps.

802.11b/g Auto 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) Links with IEEE 802.11b networks at up to 11Mbps

or 802.11a at up to 54Mbps.
802.11a/b/g Auto Links with IEEE 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a
networks at up to 54Mbps.
802.11a/b/g/n Auto 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.

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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 non-
QoS 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.
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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

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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)

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Specifications: Dell Wireless 1505 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card

Power Characteristics
The current draw values are measured over a 1-second interval. The maximum
transmit and receive values were measured while transferring a continuous UDP
data at the highest rate setting of 270Mbit/s.

Characteristic Value

Current Draw, Power Save Mode 140 mA (average), 690 mA (maximum)

Current Draw, Receive Mode 910 mA (average), 1120 mA (maximum)

900 mA (average), 1100 mA (maximum)

Current Draw, Transmit Mode

Power Supply 3.3V

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Problem or Symptom: The 'Radio Control Options' in Quickset is not working.

Possible Solution: The Dell Wireless utility must be installed.

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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.

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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.

-s
Runs InstallShield Silent to execute a silent setup.

-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).