Upgrading really old firmware

I used to have several Squeezeboxes around my house but I moved about 4 years ago to a small flat and so they've been boxed up for all this time. I recently decided it'd be nice to set them all up in my parents house and have got them working again. The only query I have is the firmware, I've installed Logitech Media Server version 7.7 and I understand this has firmware version 143 for squeezebox 1/2/3 but the devices themselves are reporting version 40 and on trying to force the firmware upgrade (using the brightness button method) the progress bar goes halfway then the device goes back to the main screen.

Do I need to find some older versions of slimserver and upgrade gradually or am I mistaken over the firmware versions?

Thanks for any advice/help