What I used to get (when there was no problem) 

Jan 13 12:19:31 thinkpad kernel: [78017.209175] (NULL device *): firmware: agent loaded intel-ucode/06-17-06 into memory
Jan 13 12:19:31 thinkpad kernel: [78017.209298] (NULL device *): firmware: agent loaded iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode into memory

VERSUS

What I get now:
Jan 17 12:01:21 thinkpad kernel: [    2.660407] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
Jan 17 12:01:21 thinkpad kernel: [    2.660544] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 8.83.5.1 build 33692 op_mode iwldvm