Can only access recovery

[Downcycle]

I have a Nexus S that was still running 2.3.4 and since I wasn't using the phone I thought I would give upgrading a try (4.0.3). Well I obviously don't know what I'm doing because when I rebooted it never actually booted up. Now I can only access the recovery system: ClockworkMod Recovery v3.0.0.0

Here are the errors I get:
E:can't find misc
E:failed to find "cache" partition to mount at "/cache"
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/command
E:Can't find misc
E:failed to find "cache" partition to mount at "/cache"
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E:failed to find "cache" partition to mount at "/cache"
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can't find misc
E:failed to find "cache" partition to mount at "/cache"

And that's just when I boot into recovery mode. If I try to format the system it says:

Error Formatting /system!

The same thing with data or cache. Does anyone know how I can reset everything? Thanks for your help.

 

[Downcycle]

After a bit of playing around I was able to get my phone to boot. I don't know if this was the right thing to do, but since it wouldn't install the zip file I had on there, I unzipped it and dropped the folders into the root folder. Then I did a reboot and it opened up as though for the first time. I don't know why this happened or why this fixed it, but if anyone can tell me an easy way to jump directly to 4.0 with less frustration, I would appreciate it. Thanks!