Atheros AR5211 unable to connect to WPA-Personal AP

I'm opening this new bug on behalf of bug reporter bjaglin. Will attach the relevant debug files and comments they posted to bug 461419:

bjaglin wrote:

"Attached log files via apport-collect as requested after:

1) Confirming this remains with the Karmic 9.10 release candidate or final release
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/
2) Confirming this remains after having installed and tested with linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic
    sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic

I can't connect at all to my home WPA-Personal AP. I could not get any better results by getting closer to the signal. AFAIK, I was using madwifi under Jaunty on the same hardware, and despite a slow rate that I thought was due to the old 802.11b adapter, it was reliable. I have a rt2870sta USB dongle which had a similar symptom (association to the AP failing); installing linux-backports-modules fixed the problem for it, but not for the built-in adapter.

The same hardware at the exact same distance from the AP works just fine in Win7. If I had no USB dongle, this would be a showstopper for me."

Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: brice 1449 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801DBICH4'/'Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981B at irq 11'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 26
   Simple ctrls : 18
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=f5dfae80-7439-4d40-890b-fc06c78c51c8
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091026.1)
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: IBM 2373G1G
Package: linux (not installed)
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=8ee24573-73d0-498d-babd-af66746a8ef4 ro elevator=deadline hpet=force quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-14-generic 2.6.31-14.16
 linux-firmware 1.24
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1493): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1493): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:1554): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1563): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
dmi.bios.date: 02/27/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1RETDOWW (3.20 )
dmi.board.name: 2373G1G
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDOWW(3.20):bd02/27/2006:svnIBM:pn2373G1G:pvrThinkPadT40p:rvnIBM:rn2373G1G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2373G1G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T40p
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM