Phone Won't Boot -- What are my options?

[frickson]

I had previously done an update to 2.3.5 via kiess, then rooted using Odin to flash I897UCKF1-AutoRoot-DesignGears.tar then KK4_stock_kernel.tar. It's been working for a while, but I apparently changed something that caused the boot to hang. On power up, I was getting the AT&T screen, the 3G screen, then the S screen with the S changing colors. It just hung there.

I could get to the download and system recovery screens, so I got into download mode and tried to reflash the KK4 kernel, to see if that would help. But in an early step (step 3 or before, don't remember exactly) Odin hung while trying to connect. Now it seems to be semi-bricked, i.e. has the phone-exclamation-computer screen. I tried options 3 & 4 on the Putting the Phone into Download Mode - Samsung Captivate Wiki page but can't get back to the download screen. Biggest problem right now is that I don't have current backups of contacts, notes, apps, etc., otherwise I'd just get a new phone (It's 2.5 years old now). But I'm guessing there isn't a way to get it backed up now.

Is there anything I can do?

Thanks!

 

[frickson]

Took the phone to the AT&T device center. They were able to get it at least back the to "S" screen. Can I fix it, or at least get my data off now? Any help appreciated!!

 

[frickson]

Latest Update:

I was able to get back to the recovery and download screens. So I downloaded ClockworkMod Recovery from here: http://cmw.cmfs.me/aries/sgh-i896/recovery/Semaphore_2.5.0c.tar and flashed it with Odin. I can get the ClockworkMod recovery screen, so I did a backup.

If I do a factory reset, will the backup still be there? Will my data on the internal SDcard still be there?

If not, is there something I can flash to unroot my phone? (The whole thing started, I believe, with preventing apps from running at startup. If root is not there, startups will proceed normally and the phone should boot.)

Thanks!