I had to turn off the 9600 because of a communication error. When I turned it back on it started the initialization - Displayed the "Philips" screen - Played some musical notes - Displayed the "Pronto, Philips, Please Wait" and then stays there. It is completely locked up. At this point, is there any way to reload firmware or reset it?

Found that by running Firmware Update program it give the key sequence for reset and firmware updating. Hope it works.

It didn't, there is still a communication error. Any ideas?

Have you tried the below...

How to perform a full firmware update?
On some rare occasions it might occur that the software on the device becomes corrupt preventing one from doing a firmware update. In such a case, follow the steps below in order to perform a full firmware update:

Step 1: Start the firmware updater.
Step 2: Undock the TSU9600 and press the Next button.
Step 3: On the next screen press the Troubleshoot buttton.
Step 4: Place the TSU9600 into the docking and wait for the Repair button to enable itself.
Step 5: Now reset the control panel by pressing the key combination: Page +, Home and Menu simultaneously immediately followed by the next step.
Step 6: Within 2 seconds set the firmware update flag by pressing the following key combination for 2 seconds: Firmkey 2, Firmkey 3 and Firmkey 4 (below the LCD) simultaneously . The control panel will now start up showing a dialog saying: "Application Firmware Download mode, normal operation not possible.
Step 7: Finally press te Repair button and wait for the update to finish.

LowPro...........The updater completes Step 1 and gets about 1/2 thru Step 2 and then give the following error: "Communication with the connected Pronto timed out. Please retry. (Error: C11, Timeout). Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Alan

I had the same problem you've described and was able to perform the firmware update as detailed by Lowpro, but after the firmware update the panel worked for 1 day and the problem started again. I ended up replacing it with another new TSU9600 after multiple resets.

I as well, Customer Service said to send it back.