Cannot detect or connect to wireless access points after reboot

[mackycastillo]

Currently using a MacBook Pro 8-1 on Ubuntu 12.10 and this is the first time this has ever happened since I installed 12.04 on it years ago.

After a few hours of TF2, I decided to do a regular reboot when our router somehow went to factory settings, Fixed that by using a wired connection to the router and backup settings for the router, so that's taken care of. After the reboot, the laptop won't automatically connect to my wireless network anymore and the network dropdown menu in the panel cannot detect any wireless network in the area.

iwconfig still detects wlan0:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

lshw shows this:

$ sudo lshw -C network
  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM57765 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 10
       serial: c8:2a:14:19:93:7b
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.125 duplex=full firmware=57765-v1.37 ip=192.168.1.34 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:16 memory:a0400000-a040ffff memory:a0410000-a041ffff
  *-network
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       version: 02
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0
       resources: irq:17 memory:a0600000-a0603fff
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: wlan0
       serial: e0:f8:47:38:71:96
       capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=b43 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

Doesn't seem to be blocked:

$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

But it still can't scan anything:

$ sudo iwlist scan
eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.


lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.


virbr0    Interface doesn't support scanning.


wlan0     No scan results

I tried "modprobe -r b43" and then "modprobe b43" and still nothing.

nm-tool says it's disconnected, but I don't know how to connect it back.

$ nm-tool


NetworkManager Tool


State: connected (global)


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            b43
  State:             disconnected
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        E0:F8:47:38:71:96


  Capabilities:


  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes


  Wireless Access Points 




- Device: eth0  [Auto Ethernet] ------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            tg3
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        C8:2A:14:19:93:7B


  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s


  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         on


  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.34
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.1


    DNS:             192.168.1.1

I have this launcher on my top panel (on GNOME2) that I put so that it does:

nmcli nm wifi off
nmcli nm wifi on

whenever I get disconnected to the internet (either while on TF2, DOTA 2, or just regular browsing) yet turning wifi on or off with nmcli still doesn't work.

Need help please.

[EDIT]
Weird. Last night, while trying to fix the problem, I tried doing various fixes which required rebooting multiple times. After shutting down (without making any changes from before), I slept and turned the laptop on first thing in the morning. It can now scan for and access wireless networks. I'll try to find out what happened in the meantime.