I think there is something missing here.
There is the kernelspace and a userspace. In the kernelspace, we'll find the driver for your specific WLAN chipset. In the userspace, we'll find the 'handler' for the WLAN connection.
In fact, an easy way to debug is 'test another kernel', because in different kernels are different WLAN drivers.
If kernel n is working and kernel n+1 doesn't, we can take a look what is the difference.
And kernels got modules. Drivers, that can be loaded/unloaded during the runtime. Maybe your WLAN chipset needs some modprobe (the command to load modules) options?
In the userspace (e16, e17, e22, ...) there are some network managers. The most used is 'network-manager' (or nm) with a lot of frontends. some years ago I've used wicd, because of the better (readable, at least for me) debug information.
I see a problem here: every network manager is using the API to control the driver. And if the driver isn't set up properly, every result is questionable...
- What is the Network card? (
lspci) - What is the kernel is saying? (
dmesg |grep -i wireless) - Is there any list shown in
iwlist?
