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UW Technology Wireless Logo Windows 98/ME Example Configuration for Wireless Connection

MS Windows 98/ME + Orinoco/WaveLAN

There are two areas you need to configure on your PC:

To configure your PC to use the Orinoco/WaveLAN card and TCP/IP with DHCP:
(other vendor's 802.11b/g cards should be similar)

  1. From the Start menu (usually bottom left of the screen) select Settings, then Control Panels and then open the Network control panel.
  2. Select the 802.11b/g card (e.g., ORiNOCO PC Card) in the list of installed network components.
    Now the Network Control Panel should look similar to the picture below:

    TCP/IP (ORINOCO DHCP1) Box

  3. Click on Properties, then the IP Address tab. Set the option to "Obtain an IP address automatically."
    Now the Network Control Panel should look similar to the picture below:

    TCP/IP (ORINOCO DHCP2) Box

  4. Click OK, then OK again to close the Network control panel.

To configure your 802.11b/g card to attach to the UW network:

  1. From the Start menu (usually bottom left of the screen) select Settings, then Control Panels and then open the Wireless Network control panel.
  2. Select the configuration profile you want to use for the UW network (probably "Default") by clicking the button on the left of that line, then click and hold on the downward pointing arrow to reveal a set of network types. Select "Access Point" from this list.
    Now the Wireless Network Control Panel should look similar to the picture below:

    ORINOCO 1 Box

  3. Click Edit Profile, then click the Basic tab. For Network Name enter "ANY" (which must be in all capital letters).
    Now the Wireless Network Control Panel should look similar to the picture below:

    ORINOCO 2 Box

  4. Click the Encryption tab. The option to enable encryption must NOT be on.
    Now the Wireless Network Control Panel should look similar to the picture below:

    ORINOCO 3 Box

  5. The settings under the Advanced and Admin tabs are almost certainly correct by default, however, they should look similar to the pictures below:

    ORINOCO 4 Box

    ORINOCO 5 Box

  6. Click OK to close the Wireless Network control panel.

You should now be able to access the Internet, and run "network" applications (e.g, TeraTerm, your Web browser) via the UW Wireless network.

Switching the network connection between the UW Wireless network and other networks is usually automatic.

To switch to the UW Wireless network after using other network connections (e.g., dial-in or wired Ethernet):

  1. Check that the 802.11b/g PC(MCIA) card is not installed in the slot, and no Ethernet wire is connected.
  2. Start (or re-start) your computer in an area where UW Wireless networking is available.
  3. Insert the 802.11b/g wireless card into the PC(MCIA) slot, wait for the system to recongize that the card is available and start using it.

If you haven't changed the network settings since configuring as described above, you should now have a working wireless connection to the Internet. If you have adjusted those settings then again perform the steps above to configure your card to attach to the UW network.

 

When done using the wireless connection you can shut down your computer and remove the 802.11b/g card. Some laptops provide a "card manager" that can be used to turn off and remove the PC(MCIA) card without shutting down the computer completely.

To switch to another network (e.g., dial-in or wired Ethernet) after using the UW Wireless network:

  1. For best results, start with the system off, the 802.11b/g PC(MCIA) card not installed in the slot, and no Ethernet wire connected.
  2. If using Ethernet, insert the PC(MCIA) adapter (if required) and connect the Ethernet cable to the computer and wall jack.
  3. Start your computer. It should automatically start using an Ethernet connection, or allow you to run dial-in networking to make a dial-in connection.

HINT! If you have trouble using the network (e.g., browers won't open Web pages) then select Start->Run and type in "winipcfg". In the winipcfg utility click on "Release All", then "Renew All" then try again.

To get help or make comments about the information on this page, use the Send a Question to UW Technology Web site.