I have a NetGear, Inc. WN111(v2) RangeMax Next Wireless [Atheros AR9001U-(2)NG](as reported by "lsusb")
I think the problem is that "hald" has loaded ar9170usb (as reported by "lsmod) instead of loading ath9k
I have opened this thing up the chip in side it is in fact a "AR9001"
it works under slack 13.0 with a 2.6.30 kernel with the ath5k module
in g mode
now under slack 13.1 it's not working at all

well I kept digging around for what the problem is and dmesg gave me this

usb 2-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
usb 2-6: New USB device found, idVendor=0846, idProduct=9001
usb 2-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
usb 2-6: Product: USB2.0 WLAN
usb 2-6: Manufacturer: ATHER
usb 2-6: SerialNumber: 12345
usb 2-6: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
usb 2-6: firmware: requesting ar9170.fw
usb 2-6: ar9170.fw firmware file not found, trying old firmware...
usb 2-6: firmware: requesting ar9170-1.fw
usb 2-6: file with init values not found.
ar9170usb: probe of 2-6:1.0 failed with error -2

so the firmware is missing
can I fix this by going to /usr/stc/linux and doing a make install-firmware

GOT IT WORKING !!!
here is where to get the firmware
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kern...9170/ar9170.fw
I put this file in /lib/firmware