I am unable to get DHCP to obtain an IP address once the wireless connection has succeed authentication with the router. I am running CentOS 5.5 on a Dell laptop. I have no problems with a wireless connection when I boot the laptop into XP. I can get a wireless connection on Linux if I disable authentication on the router for the wireless setup. I am using NetworkManager to handle the network setup.
I have tried disabling NetworkManager and manually bringing up eth1 using ifup, wpa_supplicant and dhclient. I get the same results. DHCP is unable to obtain an IP address. Here is the output of some of the network commands.

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 82801 SATA RAID Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 04)
03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 21)
03:01.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 11)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

lspci -v -s 0c:00.0

0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177
Memory at f69fc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information
Capabilities: [e8] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 25-00-31-ff-ff-56-aa-fa
Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting

lspci -n -s 0c:00.0

0c:00.0 0280: 14e4:4315 (rev 01)

lsmod

Module Size Used by
i915 24257 1
drm 65365 2 i915
ipt_MASQUERADE 7617 3
iptable_nat 11077 1
ip_nat 21101 2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
xt_state 6209 1
ip_conntrack 53281 4 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat,ip_nat,xt_state
nfnetlink 10713 2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack
ipt_REJECT 9665 2
xt_tcpudp 7105 4
iptable_filter 7105 1
ip_tables 17029 2 iptable_nat,iptable_filter
x_tables 17349 6 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat,xt_state,ipt_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ip_tables
bridge 53469 0
autofs4 29253 3
hidp 23105 2
rfcomm 42585 0
l2cap 29633 10 hidp,rfcomm
bluetooth 53925 5 hidp,rfcomm,l2cap
lockd 63337 0
sunrpc 146685 2 lockd
be2iscsi 56781 0
ib_iser 37273 0
rdma_cm 35449 1 ib_iser
ib_cm 39213 1 rdma_cm
iw_cm 13125 1 rdma_cm
ib_sa 39093 2 rdma_cm,ib_cm
ib_mad 37845 2 ib_cm,ib_sa
ib_core 63685 6 ib_iser,rdma_cm,ib_cm,iw_cm,ib_sa,ib_mad
ib_addr 11845 1 rdma_cm
iscsi_tcp 19913 0
bnx2i 40413 0
cnic 44877 1 bnx2i
uio 14793 1 cnic
cxgb3i 43017 0
cxgb3 166553 1 cxgb3i
8021q 25033 1 cxgb3
libiscsi_tcp 21957 2 iscsi_tcp,cxgb3i
libiscsi2 42693 6 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi_tcp
scsi_transport_iscsi2 37709 8 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi2
scsi_transport_iscsi 6085 1 scsi_transport_iscsi2
cpufreq_ondemand 12493 1
acpi_cpufreq 13897 1
fuse 49237 2
dm_multipath 25421 0
scsi_dh 12097 1 dm_multipath
video 21193 0
backlight 10049 1 video
sbs 18533 0
power_meter 16461 0
hwmon 7365 1 power_meter
i2c_ec 9025 1 sbs
dell_wmi 8401 0
wmi 12137 1 dell_wmi
button 10705 0
battery 13637 0
asus_acpi 19289 0
ac 9157 0
ipv6 270433 23 cnic
xfrm_nalgo 13381 1 ipv6
crypto_api 12609 1 xfrm_nalgo
parport_pc 29157 0
lp 15849 0
parport 37513 2 parport_pc,lp
wl 1963908 0
snd_hda_intel 472337 1
sr_mod 19941 1
cdrom 36577 1 sr_mod
sg 36573 0
snd_seq_dummy 7877 0
snd_seq_oss 32577 0
snd_seq_midi_event 11073 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 49585 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 11725 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 42817 0
snd_mixer_oss 19009 1 snd_pcm_oss
e1000e 116769 0
ieee80211_crypt 10049 1 wl
snd_pcm 72132 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 24517 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 14281 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep 12869 1 snd_hda_intel
snd 55749 11 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwd ep
soundcore 11553 1 snd
uvcvideo 53833 0
compat_ioctl32 5569 1 uvcvideo
videodev 25793 1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat 16069 2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_common 24385 2 uvcvideo,videodev
i2c_i801 11725 0
i2c_core 24001 2 i2c_ec,i2c_i801
sdhci 21337 0
mmc_core 27457 1 sdhci
pcspkr 7105 0
serio_raw 10693 0
dm_raid45 67145 0
dm_message 6977 1 dm_raid45
dm_region_hash 15681 1 dm_raid45
dm_mem_cache 9537 1 dm_raid45
dm_snapshot 23141 0
dm_zero 6209 0
dm_mirror 24393 0
dm_log 14657 3 dm_raid45,dm_region_hash,dm_mirror
dm_mod 63225 11 dm_multipath,dm_raid45,dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror,dm_log
ahci 35145 4
libata 157317 1 ahci
sd_mod 25281 4
scsi_mod 141973 12 be2iscsi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,bnx2i,cxgb3i,libiscsi2,scsi_transport_iscsi2,scsi_dh,sr_mod,sg,libata,sd_ mod
ext3 125513 2
jbd 57321 1 ext3
uhci_hcd 25421 0
ohci_hcd 25065 0
ehci_hcd 33869 0

ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:24:E8:AA:C3:7B
inet addr:192.168.1.22 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::224:e8ff:feaa:c37b/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5262 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3651 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:3585588 (3.4 MiB) TX bytes:655616 (640.2 KiB)
Memory:f6ae0000-f6b00000

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:25:56:31:FA:AA
inet6 addr: fe80::225:56ff:fe31:faaa/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:72
TX packets:7 errors:16 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:306 (306.0 b) TX bytes:2014 (1.9 KiB)
Interrupt:177 Base address:0xc000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:2156 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2156 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2946916 (2.8 MiB) TX bytes:2946916 (2.8 MiB)

virbr0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet addr:192.168.122.1 Bcast:192.168.122.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::200:ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:99 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:16948 (16.5 KiB)

iwconfig # before authentication established

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

virbr0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:24 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr: off Fragment thr: off
Encryption key: off
Power Managementmode:All packets received
Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=-256 dBm Noise level=-91 dBm
Rx invalid nwid: 0 Rx invalid crypt:50 Rx invalid frag: 0
Tx excessive retries: 0 Invalid misc: 0 Missed beacon: 0

iwconfig # after authentication established

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

virbr0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"wythe"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:40:F4:F9:F9:57
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:24 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr: off Fragment thr: off
Encryption key: off
Power Managementmode:All packets received
Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=-49 dBm Noise level=-92 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:66 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

I think the problem has someting to do with the encryption, but I can't seem to figure out how to change that. Under manual setup iwconfig gives me errors if if try to set the enc or key. Not sure where to set that under NetworkManager.

For future reference, please put long spans of commands or error messages like that in CODE boxes, which makes it much easier to read the post. It should also prevent text from being interpreted as smilies or anything like that, which I see you edited your post to correct already.

As for the problem itself, it seems pretty clear that the WiFi card is failing to properly authenticate with the router when using WPA, which obviously will prevent the system from getting a DHCP lease. None of the information you have provided so far indicates why WPA is failing however.

For starters, you might want to check the kernel logs when you try and enable WPA encryption and authenticate with the AP. You might catch an error message that will give us something to go on.

How do I enable WPA encryption? Is that somethig I need to change in the driver config with iwconfig, or something in the kernel which I need to recompile for?

Here is the snippets from wpa_supplicant.log, and messages when NetworkManager is trying to connect and obtain an IP address.

I notice the Association request to the driver failed from wpa_supplicant.log, also the unknown WMI event in messages.
I don't think the WMI is related to what is going on. It seems to be there at other times, and somtimes not when NetworkManager is doing its thing. The other thing I notice is that dhclient starts and then NetworkManager figures it took too long > 45s, but the time posts only show 1 second elasping.

[code]
(wext) Device eth1 kernel driver name: wl.
Device eth1 kernel driver name: wl.
Trying to associate with 00:40:f4:f9:f9:57 (SSID='wythe' freq=2412 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Associated with 00:40:f4:f9:f9:57
WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:40:f4:f9:f9:57 [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:40:f4:f9:f9:57 completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys

Nov 10 04:46:53 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: inactive -> scanning
Nov 10 04:47:03 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> inactive
Nov 10 04:48:53 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: inactive -> scanning
Nov 10 04:49:03 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> inactive
Nov 10 04:50:53 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: inactive -> scanning
Nov 10 04:51:03 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> inactive
Nov 10 04:51:05 jwwlap kernel: dell-wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x11)
Nov 10 04:51:07 jwwlap kernel: dell-wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x11)
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): device state change: 6 -> 4
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): device state change: 4 -> 5
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1/wireless): connection 'Auto wythe' has security, and secrets exist. No new secrets needed.
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'ssid' value 'wythe'
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK'
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'psk' value '<omitted>'
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Config: set interface ap_scan to 1
Nov 10 04:51:13 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: inactive -> scanning
Nov 10 04:51:18 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating
Nov 10 04:51:19 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associating -> associated
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associated -> 4-way handshake
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: 4-way handshake -> group handshake
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: group handshake -> completed
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1/wireless) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful. Connected to wireless network 'wythe'.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): device state change: 5 -> 7
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Beginning DHCP transaction.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.5-RedHat
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: All rights reserved.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient:
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> dhclient started with pid 5134
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> DHCP: device eth1 state changed (null) -> preinit
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: Listening on LPF/eth1/00:25:56:31:fa:aa
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: Sending on LPF/eth1/00:25:56:31:fa:aa
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: Sending on Socket/fallback
Nov 10 04:51:20 jwwlap dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
Nov 10 04:51:24 jwwlap dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
Nov 10 04:51:28 jwwlap kernel: dell-wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x11)
Nov 10 04:51:29 jwwlap kernel: dell-wmi: Received unknown WMI event (0x11)
Nov 10 04:51:34 jwwlap dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
Nov 10 04:51:43 jwwlap dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 20
Nov 10 04:52:03 jwwlap dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 18
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Device 'eth1' DHCP transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it.
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> eth1: canceled DHCP transaction, dhcp client pid 5134
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) scheduled...
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) started...
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): device state change: 7 -> 9
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed for access point (wythe)
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Marking connection 'Auto wythe' invalid.
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed.
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) complete.
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): device state change: 9 -> 3
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <info> (eth1): deactivating device (reason: 0).
Nov 10 04:52:05 jwwlap NetworkManager: <WARN> nm_device_wifi_disable_encryption(): error setting key for device eth1: Invalid argument
[code]

I don't beieve it. I could kick myself. I transposed the 8 and the 2 in /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf.dist
alias ieee80211_crypt_tkip ieee80211_crypt_tkip

Hybrid-wl works just fine now.

Thanks for all your help.