Ubuntu Server 11.10- No WiFi after apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

I had 11.10 server running great. I'm in the middle of moving and my other machines are at the new house so I ran apt-get install ubuntu-desktop in the hopes of being able to get some work done that came up tonight. After installing desktop, I'm unable to connect to wifi (I'd need to move the machine several rooms and one floor away to connect directly to the router).

I was getting a Not Managed error but after setting managed=true in NetworkManager.conf I'm now getting Wireless Networks Device not ready. It's been a while since I set up this server (11.10) and that was my first experience with a linux server. Needless to say, I'm a bit lost.

I could really use a shove in the right direction.

Thanks much,
Mark

EDIT: device not ready is the only message. There is nothing about firmware missing, as I've read elsewhere.

EDIT 2:
I've moved closer to the router and eth0 is working just fine.
For what it's worth, here is what I get from iwscan wlan0 scan. I used to get a list of all the wireless routers in the neighborhood so I don't know if this actually sees the router or if this is just stored info...

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1E:58:23:F6:F3
Channel:5
Frequency:2.432 GHz (Channel 5)
Quality=70/70 Signal level=-30 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"MAC"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000001ee4ceb298
Extra: Last beacon: 46596ms ago
IE: Unknown: 00034D5243
IE: Unknown: 010482848B96
IE: Unknown: 030105
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32080C1218243048606C
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F 00
IE: Unknown: 2D1A4E101BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000
IE: Unknown: 3D1605071B0000000F000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C336E101BFFFF0000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C340507030000000F000000000000000000000000 000000
IE: Unknown: DD7F0050F204104A0001101044000102103B00010310470010 F4B5C4059C2C354A809DD7F0BE4739B21021000E442D4C696E 6B2053797374656D73102300074449522D3635351024000241 33104200046E6F6E651054000800060050F204000110110017 587472656D65204E204749474142495420526F757465721008 0002008C

So I swapped the wireless nic with another of the same model and all is working. Guess the thing somehow went bad after I installed ubuntu-desktop. Strange.

Welcome to the forums.

Probably dying already and coincidental. These things seem to happen that way. Can you try the 'dead' one in another machine to verify, perhaps?

Please mark thread as 'Solved' from 'Thread Tools' when you are satisfied it is. ;)


PS: You realise that ubuntu-desktop drags in EVERYTHING a regular Ubuntu install would have? All apps and desktop environment (which in your case is probably Unity)? Not ideal for a server. You now have Ubuntu Desktop Edition setup as a server.

The usual procedure is to just install the desktop environment if you want a desktop to work with, xfce4 or lxde good, light choices. Just thought I'd mention ... ;)

PPS: Servers usually use the long term support releases for stability. 11.10 will be unsupported April 2013. 12.04 LTS is supported for five years, until April 2017.