Barry
It might, not might not, help but I have installed Ubuntu 7.10 desktop onto my laptop (maybe there should be a laptop version??? :) and had problems with my Atheros WiFi chipset. I have had to modify the rc.local with "ifdown ath0" and then "ifup ath0". I did have various problems as the iwconfig and ifconfig were doing one thing and the GUI tools were trying another.
This might be part of the problem he has?
"iwconfig ath0" shows the wireless info, and before the above, I had a different channel each time I ran the command. This means that the wifi is searching for an AP to associate to. I had the GUI configured but it would not see get an IP. If I put in a static then I could not ping off the laptop. I had to use the command line to get mine working.
Regards
Keith