I had a bricked F60 sitting for years, finally tried to fix it. Here's what worked.
Im running windows 10, 64 bit. I tried to install the original gigabeat room software and even in compatibility mode, the format utility didn't seem to work and the firmware file wasn't in the program file. I had an old PATA hard drive from my old computer. I accessed it from an external enclosure, connected to my Windows 10 laptop. I was able to run the format utility and upload the firmware file and it immediately worked.
I can send the file to others if need be. I'm trying to convert this to Rockbox now.