After you install the rfkill package, do "rfkill list" and see if the interface in question is being blocked. If you see anything that is being blocked that shound't be (or if you just see anything blocked at all), try doing "rfkill unblock all" as root. Then test again.
You might also want to make sure that the udev is recognizing and loading a module for your device. Use "lspci -k", and it will show you all the attached pci devices and the modules loaded for each (as well as what modules are available for each device if there is more than one).
If it is just an rfkill problem, there may be a way to get the device to load in an "unblocked" fashion. But if you can't figure that out, there are a couple systemd service files that are included with the rfkill package that can automate this process on boot.
]]>A good place to start with wireless/network debugging (or debugging in general) is to try setting things up with the most basic of tools. In this case it would be wpa_supplicant and dhcpcd. If that works then you at least know it is an issue with networkmanager and not with the HW itself.
]]>I'm not sure if NetworkManager is conflicting with something else or not. I do have netctl installed, and the wireless was connecting fine before installing NetworkManager. If removing NetworkManager is the solution, then is there any other way I can get a network icon in KDE, similar to nm-applet?
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