What kind of bricking are we talking about here? (Permanent or fixable)
I only found this:
A Catalyst 2960 with 64Mb of DRAM might display Low memory on the console after upgrading to 12.2(58)SE or later
Which should be fixed, and if not, I could just downgrade it back. Worst case scenario: I'll have to use xmodem instead of TFTP.
I can't remember the exact message, basically when we upgraded about 10 of ours, they wouldn't let us make any config changes past a certain point because they saw themselves as non genuine even though they are we've recently replaced all of our switching, I'll boot one of them up once I get in and check for you (+IOS version)
Do you remember if you could get to a rommon prompt? As long as console access is available you should've been able to upload replacement FW. I once had to use kermit or xmodem (I don't recall) @2400 bps to recover an AP by transferring new FW over the console cable (I'm not sure new APs even have a console port), but switches should be recoverable...the things you do, when you want to go home and not spend another day on site 🤣
My only caution would be to ensure that you use the correct FW. IIRC -L means Lan Base not IP Services, but it should warn you that there isn't enough space, if that's the case