@chimbenjere, if you are still dealing with this, it can take a while sometimes for the device to boot up when it does that. It took around 30 minutes for me one time, and I have read of instances where it was much longer. I would do a battery pull and leave it for as long as you can afford, 2 or 3 hours if necessary.
Worst case you will need to reload the OS. You could do what it sounds like you were planning, but I would do it another way. See
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB27956
Good luck.