I am using sidux fully updated. Using wicd to scan and connect to available networks. wired connection is eth1, wireless connection is ath0 using madwifi driver and kernel module. Am able to connect to network, but there is no activity in knemo thus no connection to internet. wpasupplicant is installed ,but no wpaspplicant.conf in /etc/wpasupplicant? I'm not a complete newb to linux, but don't have much experience setting up wireless in linux. Also when I switch from wired to wireless, and back to wired (bcause wireless not connecting) I have to reboot to get my voip adapter back up.I know I don't need wireless with a wired connection available, I want to be able to test my wireless network and have backup, and am going to buy a laptop soon and want to familiarize myself with how this is going to all work. Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how to get this going.

I do not know about wicd, but I have found that some linux GUI network tools do not work well authenticating with WPA. I think you will need to create a wpa_supplicant.conf and see if wicd can use wpa_supplicant (If not you can also start wpa_supplicant manually)

First, double-check that you do not have the conf file, it is very unusual for it not to be present because the default/example file has useful examples to help get it configured. (note that in your post you did not use the underscore in the name of the file, is this why you did not find it?)

Some distros use
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

and others use /
etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

If you can't find the default/example file on your system, you might find it here at linuxquestions or with a google search.

If you have not done so, Look in the wpa_supplicant man page and through this forum for more info. It is not hard to get a working configuration.

A useful commandline tool to check wireless connectivity is iwconfig
# iwconfig ath0

There is also a chance that you have authenticated correctly but a valid address has not been assigned to the interface. Use ifconfig to check the IP address
# ifconfig ath0

your right it is wpa_supplicant.conf and the only place I can find it is in /etc/dbus-1/system.d, which doesn't coinside with anything I've read.But, I did find it.

# wpa_supplicant -Dmadwifi -B -c/etc/debus-1/wpa_supplicant -iath0
Unsupported driver 'madwifi'.

This is what I got from the man pages that I needed to enter for code. So does this mean I can't use wpa with with atheros in linux? Is there another driver I can use for this card?

This is what I get if I take the code out for the driver:
Failed to read or parse configuration '/etc/debus-1/wpa_supplicant'.

What an interesting place for your distro to put the file

Your command line instruction is a good first try, see if it helps to modify a couple of details as below:

Try wext for the -D option. Atheros is a good interface and has decent support under linux so I dont know why wpa_supplicant has rejected the madwifi driver.

With the -c option you need to specify the exact path and name of the file. If you want to use tab completion as you type the command, leave a space between the -c and the /path/to/file, it will still work.

the -d option gives debugging output, might be useful. The more d's, the more output

# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -B -dd -c /etc/debus-1/system.d/wpa_supplicant.conf -iath0

Green fuse,this is the otput after adding wpa_supplicant.conf to /etc/wpa_supplicant: by the way, thanks for helping.

# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -B -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -iath0
Initializing interface 'ath0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'wext' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant Group=netdev'
Line: 5 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=10):
73 6f 75 2e 6c 2e 2e 66 6c 79 sou.l..fly
scan_ssid=1 (0x1)
key_mgmt: 0x2
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=8): [REMOVED]
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='sou.l..fly'
Initializing interface (2) 'ath0'
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=22 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf flags 0x0
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:15:e9:47:44:e5
wpa_driver_wext_set_wpa
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures
wpa_driver_wext_set_drop_unencrypted
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
Added interface ath0
Daemonize..

at the time, the card was connected to the network (no internet) and then it kicked me off the network.

here is my wpa_supplicant.conf and interfaces:

/etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.x.x
broadcast 192.168.x.255
dns-nameservers 192.168.x.x
gateway 192.168.x.x
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.x.x

allow-hotplug ath0
iface ath0 inet static
address 192.168.x.x
broadcast 192.168.x.255
dns-nameservers 192.168.x.x
gateway 192.168.x.x
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.x.x
wpa-driver madwifi
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa-ssid "my ssid"
wpa-psk "my pass-key"

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf (that I made)
# allow frontend (e.g., wpa_cli) to be used by all users in '' group

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant Group=netdev
# home network; allow all valid ciphers
network={
ssid="my ssid"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="my pass-key"
}

maybe purging wpa_supplicant and reinstalling? I feel like I've read and tried everything...grrrrrrrrrrr!!!