For what it's worth, this is my log of a successful firmware upgrade. Windows 7 64 bits - HOTAS plugged into a PCI-E USB card.
I feel your pain Loz, I hope that someone from TM contact you for a solution ASAP.
BTW it'd be extremely cool that some techie inside ThrustMaster would chime in the forums from time to time, like the guys from CH Products or NaturalPoint do. After all, in this forums we're the main testbed of his SW&HW, don't leave us in the dark. I'm sure you're watching, now you can participate ;) tm_fwupdate_trace.zip