booting a h5450 iPaq (first time)

I did make a full backup of my device using ActiveSync. Did a backup using Bootblaster.
I installed the bootloader and Familiar 0.8.4.
I can boot into the device with HyperTerminal but when I press boot I
only get the Penguin and the message Please wait: booting...
From here on nothing happens.
Could I somehow replace my kernel? (And would it help?)
(I used to have the HP iPaq logo coming up before booting. But somehow I
screwed it up before installing Familiar. Don't know if it means anything.)
I tried to reinstall my wince-image but got the error-message that it is too large. So maybe I could reduce its size something mounting the image loopback on my linux box (Please give me the command) and delete unnessesary stuff.
What would happen if I reinstall my original bootloader? ( - would I then not be able to communicate with the device at all?)