this looks like the issue mention on the NM mailing list. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/networkmanager-list/2006-August/msg00023.html
the patch in that thread was commited ** Changed in: network-manager (Ubuntu) Status: Unconfirmed => Confirmed -- libnm-util0 for network-manager on ppc does not work with wpa passphrases https://launchpad.net/bugs/52922 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs