oops, spoke too soon.
Did two hard resets after initial flash like everyone suggested.
Proceeded to setup my exchange email account. Everything went fine.
Set up Microsoft Myphone. Everything went fine.
Set up Windows Live. Set up went very slow. Phone locked up and screen timed out and turned off. Pushed hardware button to turn the screen back on and check the progress and the backlight wouldn't come on. The buttons lit up but the backlight stayed off. Waited a few minutes and the backlight finally came back on and the phone was on the lock screen. Tried to slide unlock button but that locked the phone up and the screen goes black. Pushing the hardware buttons again and the backlight won't come on again.
Seems like setting up Windows Live causes some kinda adverse effect on the phone somehow. Soft resetting brought it back to life again. Everything seems normal. I'll monitor throughout the day.