Although firmware upgrades are supposed to make the tv better, more compliant blah blah blah, I would read up on some other experiences on this and other sites. From what I've encountered working on pc's, most motherboards have a back up chip in with default settings in case something gets messed up, you'd set a jumper and the default bios would be restored. Westinghouse main boards might have this capability, however I doubt they do as I was never able to get that information from either westinghouse or any technicians that work on TV's.
Trying to find information on who manufactured the parts that went into the television is tough. Parts are bought from different companies, slapped into a box, and the TV name is just glued to the front. So its possible even if your friend had the same tv model that he upgraded firmware to, that same file might not work for your TV. As for Westinghouse's instructions, they are sad and misleading at best. And since you performed the firmware update, you are the cause of the error even if westinghouse supplied you the file (which is what they did to me).
I posted something almost a year ago discussing westinghouse and my dealings with them after experiencing the same issue. Back then I was told that they were reworking their website, they had to manually input serial numbers, and I should check back in a few months, and that it was possible that the links werent working correctly. Lets just say westinghouse lost a customer and gained an antagonist. The only recourse I had heard is spending around 200$ to purchase a new mainboard with the chip already having the firmware loaded. I couldnt even give the tv away to friends. I just replaced it with a tv from a company that at least has customer service, and since you can get new ones for close to the cost it may take to replace the mainboard, you might be better off going that route. Good luck and if you are able to get it working I'd love to know what you did.
