Same behavior in RHEL release 5.4. The only difference is the log file format.

zd1201 hasn't seen much change in a long time...what is the last kernel version where it worked for you?

It definitely worked for me long time ago but I have no exact record when. Original bug claims FC6T3+ time frame.

Theoretically it could be a particular access point but a) it works with windows driver and b) I created an access point using another laptop and got the same time out error.

As it always happens in these cases, my adapter works like a charm:
WPA2, long-packet transfers, everything (on Fedora 14 Rawhide). I have:

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  4 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0586 ProdID=3413 Rev=48.10
S:  Manufacturer=ZyDAS
S:  Product=USB2.0 WLAN
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 4 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=zd1211rw
E:  Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=82(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=83(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=  64 Ivl=125us
E:  Ad=04(O) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=  64 Ivl=125us

I am sure John is just as puzzled as I am.

Eugene, is there a special reason you're using Windows firmware?
Obviously it is compatible with the device, but it's API and format
are not necesserily compatible with Linux.

Please try this:
cd /lib/firmware
mkdir save.zd1211win
/bin/mv zd* save.*
yum install zd1211-firmware

Pete,

The subject says 1201, not 1211.

T:  Bus=06 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 10 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0ace ProdID=1201 Rev= 1.01
S:  Product=USB WLAN
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 4 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=zd1201
E:  Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  64 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  64 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  16 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=82(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS=  16 Ivl=0ms

I tried several firmware packages, including one from original Linux driver site.

Well, this is a tough one.  I have no such hardware and (of course) no documentation for any such hardware either.

Are you in a position to build/test upstream kernels extracted from git?  We may need to do some bisection...

I'll try to follow any instructions provided. What is needed?

OK, well...I guess first we need to find some reasonable boundaries for kernel versions that still worked and when they stopped working.  Based on the info above, I'd estimate that the breakage was probably around 4(!) years ago, which would be maybe around kernel version 2.6.18?

I think you mentioned having access to a RHEL5 box, so that might help w/ getting a workable kernel config.  It might help if you did your build/test on the RHEL5 box as well, since older kernels might have trouble with an F-12 userland.  I think git is available in the EPEL repositories for RHEL5.

The basic process is something like this:

git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git
cd linux-2.6
git checkout -b version-2.6.18 v2.6.18
cp /boot/config-2.6.18-194.el5 .config
make oldconfig # Any prompts?  If so, stick to the defaults and/or do your best.
make
make modules_install install # This needs to be done as root, of course.

Reboot into the kernel you just built -- hopefully it at least runs.  Does zd1201 work?  If not, repeat from "git checkout" but with 2.6.17.  Otherwise, repeat from there but w/ 2.6.19.  The objective is to find the two releases on either side of when zd1201 stopped working.  You do not need to recopy the .config file each time, but you will need to do the 'make oldconfig' each time.

I'll pause here so as not to confuse you with the later details until we have that version information. :-)

Any word on this?

Closed due to lack of response -- please reopen when the request info becomes available...thanks!

I tried 2.6.18 and 2.6.17 per your instructions and both don't work with this access point. I wonder if anything else can be done to find out the source of link timed out errors.

This message is a reminder that Fedora 12 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 12.  It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained.  At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 
'version' of '12'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 12's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that 
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 12 is end of life.  If you 
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this 
bug to the applicable version.  If you are unable to change the version, 
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events.  Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Fedora 12 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2010-12-02. Fedora 12 is 
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further 
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of 
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.