wi-fi connection and wicd

[Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com>]

I have a newly installed Debian 6.0.6 on my netbook.  I cannot get wi-fi 
going.  I have checked the wi-fi card itself by booting a Live DVD.  It 
connects fine on Ubuntu 12.04.

I have run various tests with the following results:
root@Cronos:/home/lisi# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=0 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

lisi@Cronos:~$ lsmod | grep ath5k
ath5k                 104138  0
mac80211              123586  1 ath5k
ath                     6018  1 ath5k
cfg80211               87645  3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
led_class               1757  1 ath5k
lisi@Cronos:~$
lisi@Cronos:~$ lsmod | grep ath9k
lisi@Cronos:~$

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001
Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e008
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Memory at 55200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ath5k

wicd has been a bit problematic since I installed it.  It took various 
adjustments before it got to this stage.

I have never had a problem of any kind with wicd before, and I have installed 
it frequently.

I have Googled - which is how I got this far.  Each tiny step in sorting out 
wicd took much Googling.

I have purged and reinstalled wicd.  I have dpkg-reconfigured it.

When I try to connect I get the message that no wireless connection is 
available.  There are in fact 7 within easy wireless reach, one of them my 
own, and my wireless router is currently about 9 inches away from the netbook 
on the same desk.

Where do I go next??

Thanks,
Lisi