Help with a looping 6800

After two days of reading, both here and XDA, i have to add my issue to the mix. I installed a popular ROM on my phone and it worked flawlessly for two days. Day number three the phone hard reset its self to the bootloader screen, and I cannot get out of it. When i connect to my pc (xp sp3) it gives me the error "one of your devices has malfunctioned...blah blah). The phone recognizes the usb connections, because the screen changes from serial to usb, but nothing else.

Things i have tried to resolve the prob;

turned off Async (and the three processes in task manager also)
replaced my usb cable
downloaded and reinstalled async and the HTC drivers
swearing
run exitbl (cannot connect)
different computer (with all the same as above)

If I flash via SD card, the rom loads and when you reset the phone, it immediately loads again. if you remove the card, it goes to the bootloader screen.

I'm probably overlooking something as it seems i've tried everything, and probably not in the correct order, but if anyone could help, that'd be swell. thank you all for the terrific forum.

[drewcam888]

Try the exit bootloader program. You can find it by searching. That or you have started to find a hardware program where the phone only boots normally if plugged in. If this is the case then time for a swap.