I've noticed that the firmware downloads have this Firmware Agreement page just before you can download the firmware.
What it says is that the firmware being downloaded does not give a player additional functions/features, and it is mainly there for dead player recoveries.

Usually people don't read this. Well, not everyone does that (i know i don't ). It's like reading the terms & conditions when you are installing a new software in your computer.

So the unsuspecting person downloads the "latest" firmware and "upgrades" his/her player. Blue Screen! Another dead player added to the list.

So a suggestion would be there would be something like a java prompt together with the Firmware Agreement page. Where the person needs to click to continue downloading. And the prompt could have a short message like "This Firmware Will Not Upgrade Your Player! Use It Only For Player Recoveries!".
And hopefully the person sees this and actually READ the Firmware Agreement, and realises that they are just 1 step away from bricking their players (well maybe a few steps, considering unpacking, loading, flashing).

Not sure if this can be integrated into the forum, i know nothing about all these scripting and php stuff. But it might help to reduce the number of bricked players due to "upgrades".

yeh that would be cool. we can always try our best by doing small things like this to save the user's money by warning him beforehand about the undesirable consequences of firmware upgrade