[Nook Color Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xdajunkman:
First, if you were able to get the thing rooted, then you are not an idiot (even if it took you two days). If the thing boots at all (which it does by your description...it just gets stuck somewhere), then this can be fixed. Don't throw it out, and dont get too frustrated.

I know you don't think that you can do it, but I can tell you that rooting the Nook is actually harder than installing a custom operating system of returning to the stock operating system.

There is a good thread that gives you step-by-step directions to getting your device back. I can let you know which steps to follow, and we can help if you get stuck...just post here again if a step is giving you trouble and we can guide you through it. I will assume that you want to return the thing to the original stock operating system. If you want to do anything more from there, then it will be easy because you will already know how to do this.

First, go to this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1030227

Read the entire first post. If you don't understand what he is talking about, that is OK.

Now go to the section that starts with "On with the guide:" in bold letters.

For step one in this section:

Download the sd card image that is linked in the first sentence. It is a zip file, so you will have to 'unzip' it before you can do anything with it. I will assume that you know how to do this, but if not it is quite easy. If you are using Windows 7 or XP, just double click on the file like you would any other file or folder. It will open up as a folder and you will see a file with the extension ".img" in the folder. Just drag and drop this somewhere outside of the zip folder (like on your desktop). There are also specific programs for doing this - the thread references a program called 7zip that you can download and use if you like.

For step two in this section:

Now that you have the sd card image, you need to 'burn' it (or copy it) to your micro SD card. If you don't have one of these, you only need a 1gb card and they are very cheap at places like Walmart. You will obvisouly also need a way to plug this card into your computer. Hopefully your computer has a place to plug SD cards in - most newer machines do. If not, then you will also need to pick up an SD card reader that plugs into a USB port on your computer. You will need to download either one of the programs linked in this step - either "win32diskimager" of "winimage". I use the first one and it works well. Once you have that downloaded, you will need to run the program as an administrator. This is done in windows 7 by right-clicking on the icon that runs the program, and then selecting 'run as administrator'. If you are on Windows XP, it should work fine without this. Once it is running, follow the directions that they give you in the thread - there is a link there that shows you exactly how to run the program and how to select your ".img" file from above. If you have trouble with this, post the issue here.

Now go down to the section labeled "Epilogue" in bold letters. Go to step #4. You want to follow the link in that step to download the file called "update-nc-stock-1.2-signed.zip". Once you have this file downloaded, copy it directly over to your sd card that you prepared above - do not unzip it or otherwise modify it.

If you have gotten this far, then you have done the hardest part. Power down your nook, put your sd card in the device, then turn your Nook back on. You should boot into something called ClockworkMod Recovery. It will be a text-based list of commands. The volume up and down buttons lets you navigate through the commands on the screen, the nook 'N' button on the bottom front of the device is equivalent to the 'enter' button that you press to select a command, and tapping the power button will let you back up one menu screen if you select the wrong thing. You want to use the volume down button and highlight the command 'install zip from sdcard'. Press the nook 'N' button to select this option. Use the volume down button again to highlight the 'choose zip from sdcard' command, and press the 'N' button again. You shoud now see a list of all the files contained on your sdcard. Use the volume down button to highlight the file "update-nc-stock-1.2-signed.zip", then press the 'N' button again. It will ask you to verify that you want to want to do this - select the option confirming that want to proceed and press the 'N' button again. It will take a few minutes, but a message will appear when it is done. At this point, hold the power button in for 8-10 seconds until the machine turns off. Take out your sd card, then turn the power back on. You should boot into the stock 1.2 operating system and your nook is revived.

It seems like a lot, but like I said if you were able to root it then you can do this. If you get stuck, post which step is giving you trouble and we can get you through it.