When the Launchpad was quite new, TI published an Launchpad update program that would make it work with new (at the time) microcontrollers.
But sometimes, the update failed, leaving me and others with a useless launchpad.
http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_Firmware_Update (BEWARE!)
This has been discussed here (43oh.com) and elsewhere http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp43016-bit_ultra-low_power_mcus/f/166/p/97931/346074.aspx#346074
and someone in that thread was kind enough to backup his/her Launchpad's firmware:
http://e2e.ti.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key