I cant get ubuntu or kubuntu live cds to work AT ALL,displaying this netadapter(?)error message right after the splash screen every time,and no matter the version,tried many earlier versions of kubuntu/ubuntu.My laptop is hp pavilion dv6111.Would be greatful for any advise for getting rid of my current os,xp...

The title of your post mentions that there is a problem with the firmware, but you didn't post what the problem is. I'll assume you have a broadcom wireless device. My HP laptop (AMD64) has a broadcom device.

You need the bcm43xx_fwcutter program to cut out the firmware from the windows driver. The README or INSTALL file has a list of driver version numbers to check your driver against.
While you are at it make sure that the "wireless-tools" and "wpa_supplicant" packages are also installed.

If your driver is in the list, you should be OK. Otherwise you will need to download a different driver. Make sure that you use a 32 bit driver if you have a 32 bit distro, and a 64 bit driver if you have a 64 bit distro.

Then you need to run "bcm43xx_fwcutter -w /lib/firmware <driver_file>". From the cryptic message, I am guessing that the firmware files aren't located where the driver was expecting them.

Then also check if the bcm43xx kernel module is loaded:
lsmod | grep bcm

Next run your device configuration program. I don't use Ubuntu, so I'm not familiar with it.
You can check if the device is working with the command:
sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan

The output for your wireless device should list the APs (access points) found. If you see this, then the device is functioning and you can proceed to configure encryption (e.g. configuring wpa_psk and entering the same key that your router used) and networking (e.g. selecting DHCP).

Good Luck!

yes,i have a broadcom driver on my amd 32bit 3400+,and the message is;error to load bcm...and it comes when inserting the live cd,right after run or install,when loadin linux kernels and such.I dont quite understand the part of cutting the firmware from windows driver?So,cut it out when on windows still,or what?Asked about this from my linuxunderstanding friend,who told me its not supposed to complain about this before the live cd aint even "rolling"yet?Anyways,if someone could tell me where to download this cutter and how specifically to use it,aint had such probs before(have kubuntu on my amd64 desktop.

For the firmware, read this.

I missed the part that you were using a live cd. You could locate where the driver is on the windows C: drive and use that file. It will probably be named bcmwl5a.sys and it may be located in the windows' c:/WINDOWS/system32/drivers/ directory or it might be in a directory for your broadcom device (such as in c:/Program Files/LinkSys/). If you are using XP, you may need to
run "modprobe ntfs" before you can access the windows partition. Ubuntu might have the NTFS kernel module loaded by default and might have the windows partition mounted for you under the /media/ directory.

Suppose that the windows C: partition is mounted on /media/hda1/. Then you would run in the terminal:
sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/ /media/hda1/WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/DRIVERS/BCMWL5A.SYS

I am guessing that the windows filenames will be upper case. You can run "ls /media/hda1/[wW]*" -d to list any file or directory starting with either "w" or "W" to be sure.
Also, pressing the tab key will auto-complete your typing making it easier as well.

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I don't use ubuntu and can't help you in installing the bcm43xx-fwcutter program without a net connection. Since you have kubuntu installed on your desktop, you could install the bcm43xx-fwcutter package on that machine. Download or copy the driver you need and run the program, extracting the firmware anywhere you want to. Then copy the firmware to a pen drive. Then simply copy (as root) the bcm43xx*.fw files created from the pen drive to /lib/firmware/. This way you won't have to rerun the firmware cutter program every time you boot up the live distro. Simply copy the files from the pen drive.
If Kubuntu on your desktop mounts the pen drive as /media/disk:
Then on the laptop (with the live distro) if the pen drive mounts as /media/disk:
Assuming you can also reach your wireless router from the Kubuntu laptop, if you have a complicated wireless key, you could copy the key from the router's web interface, and paste it into a text file. Then copy this text file to the same pen drive. When you are asked for the the key, you could open the text document saved on the pendrive, copy it, and then paste the key in the requester dialog.

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Note that I made an assumption that bcmwl5a.sys is the broadcom driver that you need. It is possible that that assumption is wrong. I have two HP computers. One is a laptop and one is a desktop with a Linksys wireless pci card. They both use the same bcmwl564.sys driver ( x86_64 AMD machines ). There is a more recent broadcom controller that might require a different driver. Look in your c:/windows/system32/drivers/ directory for a .sys file starting with the letters "bcmw". That is probably the driver you need.

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Using wireless on a live CD will be difficult because you will need to supply the firmware and the encryption key everytime. A usb keydrive could contain the firmware and a text file containing the key. My wpa_psk key is a 64 random hex digit key. There is no way I would be able to enter it in manually. Life would be much easier if you either installed a regular distro (multi-booting) or didn't use wireless when using a live CD. Items that need to be configured will have to be reconfigured the next time as well.

P.S. Sorry if this post is a little sloppy. I moved the last paragraph from another location where it seemed to make more sense.

Please do not grab your firmware from any old Broadcom wireless driver you have lying about - use the ones from the link I gave (which is the official word from the bcm43xx/ b43/ b43legacy developers).

The reason for this is that there are too many firmware versions out there, with too many inconsistencies and little bugs which the reverse engineers and developers do not know about, or cause too much trouble for them to have to work around all of them.

It is far better if you use the recommended firmware version, as you will have less problems, and the problems you do have will be far simpler to fix (later versions of b43-fwcutter do this by not letting you extract unsupported firmware versions without an explicit command line switch, to stop casual users from doing so).

Thanks,and i DONT have wireless on my desktop at all so i guess it wouldnt be the same ehh??heehee.Will try the link now.

Have now the firmware on usb stick,but cant still get the live cd past the point;run or install..and the other thing is,that nothing happens offline either and i am currently on citys free wireless only,so no cable.AND whats the strangest is that i HAD ubuntu earlier on this EXACT lappy,changed to xp,non-permanently(i thoughted),for having to use win software for work related issues.So,not even that ubuntu version which i had(6.06)earlier will run now,newer neither,nor kubuntu.I am totally clueless,how come it complains about that bcm43xx...even if offline?I havent changed my hardware and worked earlier,so wtf is it,no idea.And how am i suppose to get the firmware from the usb stick when cant even get to console or nothing,tried it from cd too but it just freezes everytime after;error loading bcm...Please,if someone could simplify it even more for my dumbass cause just nothing works.I dont like being on xp,and never had such probs before,even managed to get the graphics drivers installed on my desktop,fixed em etc.Patience ppl,been online just a lil over a year,and using kde for half of it,and didnt think of being such an idiot but...