I've encountered this problem as well with Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin)/Linux Mint 13 (maya), i386 non-PAE on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-51 with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2].
At boot Network Manager doesn't show anything but iwlist does show wireless networks available. After several minutes, Network Manager starts functioning, showing the available networks. I've monitored the logs (.xsession-errors, syslog, dmesg, kern.log, auth.log, udev.log) but nothing appears at the moment it starts functioning. The following bugs appear to be duplicates of this but I don't have time to verify them: bug 1032664 bug 1031777 bug 1017186 bug 996389 bug 991872 bug 983583 bug 965895 Bug 767423 seems to be an even older report of the same problem. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to network-manager in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1011073 Title: NetworkManager submenus sometimes unpopulated Status in “network-manager” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Submenus in Network Manager are sometimes unusable as they are not populated. This happens both with the list of available networks and with the VPN list. When the bug happens, it occurs for *both* the wireless submenu and the VPN menu. I know there are entries for those submenus as I can see them with other network UI mechanisms. The issue is intermittent. Expected: Dropping down the menu then hovering over the submenu trigger-point (example: "More networks") shows the additional expected entries (example: more wifi networks to choose from). Actual: Dropping down the menu and hovering over the submenu trigger displays a submenu but the submenu has nothing in it and is unusable. Ubuntu 12.04 network-manager 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu4.1 Apple Macbook Pro 8,1 03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 02) 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57765 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/1011073/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
