Here is what happened...

My phone powered off during a software update via desktop manager.

Upon reboot I get an hourglass, then nothing. No display.

I can connect too desktop manager and all looks fine. I have reinstalled the OS to no avail.

I have removed the battery.

I have tried the loader.exe /nojvm trick. It says it completes but still no lcd display past the initial hourglass.

I think the boot loader is corrupt. What is the next step?

Yes I did delete vendor xml

JL CMDER gives me a COM port error when I try to wipe with this tool.

Did you try this:

What to do next if Jl Cmder will not connect and wipe - BlackBerryFAQ

Yes, that appears to run sucessfully but I still have no video past the initial 3-5 seconds of the hourglass.

I can connect using javaloader from a CMD line. I did the wipe from command line. The problem still exists