Strange behavior with wpa_supplicant -u

[Mike Edenfield]

Hi,

I am having a connectivity issue with my wireless adapter that only 
occurs when using wpa_supplicant's DBus interface, and only on one 
specific AP.  My laptop has an internal Intel 3945ABG wireless adapter, 
which I'm using via the Linux in-kernel iwlwifi driver.  When I try to 
connect DLink AirPlus G 6000, using uses WPA-PSK with TKIP, that's in my 
office, weird things happen.

If I configure and run wpa_supplicant manually or via wicd, the adapter 
hooks right up with the AP and stays there.  But if I try to use 
NetworkManager, which controls wpa_supplicant through DBus, the adapter 
spontaneously disassociates from the AP after about 15 seconds.  I get 
the following errors:

wlan0: disassociated (Reason: 14)
wlan0: deauthenticated (Reason: 6)

which appears to indicate that the encryption between the AP and the 
adapter has failed.  This is usually followed by NetworkManager 
prompting me again for the PSK, even though it hasn't changed.

The only difference I can detect between the working and non-working 
setups is how wpa_supplicant is launched.

Working incovation: wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c 
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

Failing invocation: wpa_supplicant -u

My biggest problem at the moment is I can't figure out how to tell what 
wpa_supplicant is doing when it's running via nm.  Is there any type of 
command-line dbus utility or trace mechanism that I can use to see 
what's going on?  Or better yet, has anyone else seen this behavior and 
can tell me where to look to fix it?

(And, to ward off the "obvious" solution -- not using NetworkManager 
isn't currently an option, for many frustrating reasons beyond my control.)

Thanks,

--Mike