Well, after _way_ too much messing around, I've determined that the mini-pci slot on _my_ (at least) Net 4501 is pretty much useless. Both a new Wistron CM9 and an OEM Intersil Prism (pgt) (taken from an SMC barricade) fail. Don't quote me on these numbers, but the CM9 will draw something like 430ma and the pgt something like 290ma and they both behave the same way. I tried OpenBSD 4.6 (release and patch branch) and 4.7 (various snaps): the cards, once configured and/or are connected to, cause the kernel to spew errors on the console continually and won't stop until a reboot. I'm assuming they are starved for current. Apparently other people have gotten mini-pci wlan cards to work in their Net 4501s, but not me.
I'm making my employer buy me a TimeCapsule that I'll put behind my Net 4501 for now. In the future, I'll have to investigate other options like a Net 5501 or even one of the nice RouterBoards mentioned here recently. Thanks to all who chimed in. Daniel
