First of all, dont get tensed... be cool, any crazy steps could brick your device.
Before doing anything remove battery from Universal and keep it aside else it will drain.
The below link has some very useful information on Universal, read its sections especially on 'How to upgrade your ROM' and associated errors
XDADeveloperWiki - HTC_Universal
I am not so senior in doing all this but recovered my Universal from similar situations using mtty the procedure of which is available on that link
The key is you got to keep your battery 100% before attempting any of the recovery so that it wont run out of power during the operation.
As it might take a while to read through the information to assess exactly in what situation your universal currently is .. sorry for this lengthy response.
Regards