Version: svn (using KDE 4.3.4) Compiler: gcc 4.3.4 OS: Linux Installed from: Compiled From Sources If knetworkmanager cannot talk to NetworkManager it simply says "Networking information not available". It should rather try to activate NetworkManager, which can be done issuing the following command: dbus-send --system --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wake
I'm not sure it should start it. But it definitely should reconnect if NM is restarted - which it currently does not. Let me know if you want a separate bug for that.
Fwiw, nm-applet reconnects when nm service is restarted, so doing as orion suggested would help bring knm one step closer to parity.
Support for this was added recently, since 2010-08-30 at least, a possible side effect of bug #238325