[CentOS] ipw3945 wireless not working

This is a new Centos 5.1 install on a HP nc2400 (that use to run XP).  
Completely clean install; blew away the XP partitions...

After applying all the updates, and configuring for the rpmforge repo, I 
used yumex to install dkms and the dkms-ipw3945, ipw3945-firmware, and 
ipw3945d rpms.

lsmod|grep ipw    shows:

ipw3945          180391   1
ieeee80211      33417   1   ipw3945

and dmesg)grep ipw   shows:

well a bunch of lines about the card including one with the Radio 
Frequency Kill Swithc is On

But the card does not show in Network Manager.

I added to modprobe.conf:
alias wifi0 ipw3945
and rebooted (and power cycled) and no change.

ifconfig wifi0 up
gets: device not found

Oh, this notebook has a Broadcom ethernet adapter that is working just 
fine at bootup

But I have to get the wireless working today!  Well maybe by tomorrow.  
(off to IETF next week, and IEEE 802 the following).

ANy help would be greatly appreciated!