Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter Will NOT Connect

[praseodym]

Try to deactivate the hardware encryption of the driver:

echo "options ath5k nohwcrypt=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/ath5k.conf
sudo modprobe -rfv ath5k
sudo modprobe -v ath5k

[croblast2000]

Yes, it worked!
Count this as another reason why linux destroys Macs and MS! Proprietary = Fascism!
Heal yea! I like eclamation points.
But I do have question, dear praseodym...
What part of the results in the Code sections of my post did you see that the hardware was encrypted?
And one more, on the off chance, could the device have been disabled by a virus when the laptop was still running windoze?
Thank you for your help and amazing insights.