Comment 36 for bug 259157

I had a similar problem, wouldn't connect to wpa network. I then tried a combination of things, ultimately this has worked:-

Using ath5k driver (8.10 beta with latest updates).

Hardware Drivers (gui): none activated

/etc/networks contains:-

iface wlan0 inet static
address <my static ip>
netmask <my netmask>
gateway <my gw>
wpa-psk <my huge hex key - copied from another box>
wpa-driver wext
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-proto WPA
wpa-ssid <my essid>
auto wlan0

in /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf I then have:-

[ifupdown]
managed=true

Not sure how relevant the above (NetworkManager) is ... or if my manual editing of the interfaces file has done it. I'd have figured the interfaces file would be read at boot, and NetworkManager would then reconfigure the interface using it's own settings?

Regardless, it now instantly connects, good signal, good speed ... so the driver itself seems ok.