KNetworkManager often ignores wireless

[Wolfgang Jeltsch]

Hello,

I used KNetworkManager quite successfully for some time. However since two 
weeks or so, KNetworkManager often doesn’t allow me to connect to wireless 
networks. The option for activating wireless networks is deactivated an 
“greyed out”. Sometimes, things work again after five reboots or so, sometimes 
not.

In syslog I found this:

NetworkManager: <info>  Wireless now disabled by radio killswitch
NetworkManager:    SCPlugin-Ifupdown: (12048480) ... get_connections.
NetworkManager:    SCPlugin-Ifupdown: (12048480) ... get_connections
    (managed=false): return empty list.

However, wireless is *not* disabled by the “kill switch”. I have a slide 
switch, and this is in the “on” position. Putting it into the other position, 
doesn’t help either, by the way.

Here are some more lines from syslog:

NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): driver supports SSID scans (scan_capa 0x01).
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): new 802.11 WiFi device (driver: 'iwlagn')
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): exported as
    /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): now managed
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state change: 1 -> 2 (reason 2)
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): bringing up device.
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): deactivating device (reason: 2).
NetworkManager: <WARN>  default_adapter_cb(): bluez error getting default
    adapter: The name org.bluez was not provided by any .service files
NetworkManager: <info>  modem-manager is now available
NetworkManager: <info>  Trying to start the supplicant...
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant manager state:  down -> idle

Interestingly, these lines do not suggest that wireless is disabled by the 
kill switch. The network interface wlan0 is obviously there. However, what 
does “deactivating device (reason: 2)” mean? What is the meaning of the state 
change from “down” to “idle”?

Any help would be appreciated.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang