How can a network card driver cause issues with just one wifi network?

I recently came across a question on Unix Linux where the OP couldn't use one specific WiFi network, but had no issues connecting to others. Apparently, the system would connect and get an IP but then could not browse. Of course, there could be all sorts of reasons for this, for instance a DNS failure, and that isn't what I am asking about. What piqued my curiosity was a comment by another user, one who I know is quite knowledgeable about networks and certainly more knowledgeable than I am. This user suggested that the problem might be caused by the driver (module) handling the network card on

Question by terdon on Super User, licensed CC BY-SA. We show a short excerpt and link to the original thread as credit.