On Friday 02 Sep 2011 14:38:56 BRM wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> > From: Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@gmail.com>
> > 
> > On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 11:52 PM, BRM <bm_witness@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>  I still haven't decided what to get for my system to replace the NIC
> > 
> > with, but the card I have should be working with my existing 802.11g
> > network already; however, it doesn't - I have had to connect my laptop
> > via Ethernet cable to my wireless bridge to get network access.
> > 
> >>  /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 starts, but goes immediately inactive. From what
> >>  I
> > 
> > can find on-line, this seems to have been something common after moving
> > to Base Layout 2/OpenRC; however, I couldn't find anything that
> > specified what the actual solution was - I think most ended up doing a
> > complete reinstall of their wicd/wpa-supplicant software - either way
> > details were lacking.  I've successfully had wpa-supplicant working in
> > the past, and as a result of all of this I've tried to get it up through
> > the other method too (iwconfig?), but no success. (I think I have
> > managed to get it to scan some, but not sufficiently and certainly no
> > connections.)
> > 
> > Did you followed the instructions at
> > 
> > http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/openrc-migration.xml
> > 
> > specifically the network section?
> 
> Yes, I believe so. It's been a while since I made the migration, but the
> wireless configuration seems to have broken about the same time.
> 
> The wired configuration works just fine, and the guide mentions nothing
> about Wireless changes - e.g. WPA Supplicant - and that's where the
> problem is. 
> 
> >>  Anyone see this issue and know what the solution is? I'd like to at
> > 
> > least get my 802.11g access back - the current setup is a bit of a pain
> > and very limiting.
> > 
> > Since you use a laptop, I will assume you have either KDE, GNOME or
> > Xfce. If that's the case, why don't you try NetworkManager or connman,
> > and use the GUI thingy to do the work for you? I haven't manually
> > configured a wireless network in years, and I have been the last three
> > months traveling with my laptop literally all over the world,
> > connecting to all kinds of access points.
> > NetworkMnager just works, but I also hear great comments about connman.
> 
> I'm using KDE, yes. I've tried the tools but it doesn't seem to ever scan
> for a wireless network on its own, and the scans I have been able to force
> don't result in a connection - they don't even find the network I'm trying
> to attach it to.  Prior to the change, I could get WPA Supplicant to
> connect to my wireless, though I did have to have it specifically
> configured to do so. It wouldn't typically work using the tools for the
> one wireless network, while I could get it to for others (hotels, other
> places, etc.).
> 
> I have added another network that is configured a little differently that I
> would prefer to connect to (over the old one), but at the moment I'll take
> either. (The new 802.11g network uses WPA2; the old one uses WEP+Shared.)

Assuming that you have built in your kernel or loaded the driver module for 
your NIC and any firmware blobs have also been loaded, please show:

 /etc/conf.d/net 

and  

 grep ^[^#] /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

-- 
Regards,
Mick