Samsung Galaxy S I900 Bootloop in Recovery after flashing custom ROM
Step 7: Don't have auto-reboot checked. (unless it says otherwise somewhere that I'm not aware of)

Can you get into download mode with power + volume down ?

power + volume up should go to recovery and if there is no OS to boot it likely defaults to recovery.

If you can get into download mode, try finding a different compatible recovery like TWRP. I find it preferable to CWM personally. There is an ODIN flashable file: http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/117 (I'm not sure if this is the exact right recovery - definitely verify yourself) If you can provide additional model details, I can help narrow it down. The worst that will happen if it isn't the correct recovery is that flashing roms will not work and you will have to find a working one and reflash with ODIN.


The soft-bricked term applies to a wide range of conditions but yes this does fall under that category since you cannot actually use your device as intended.
There's several ways to resolve this problem. First try some of what I mentioned already.
You should be able to flash new roms with TWRP. In your state, I would highly advise trying it as you have nothing to lose. (I'm not a fan of Samsung/ODIN myself but have worked with them before. While I can personally confirm that backup/restore works in TWRP, I can only say I would be very surprised to hear that installing a custom rom does not. That is to say that TWRP absolutely should by all accounts work just fine for installing custom roms on Samsung devices yet I have not personally done this.)