In the present paper, we investigate the instability, adiabaticity, and controlling effects of external fields for a dark state in a homonuclear atom-tetramer conversion that is implemented by a generalized stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. We analytically obtain the regions for the appearance of dynamical instability and study the adiabatic evolution by a newly defined adiabatic fidelity. Moreover, the effects of the external field parameters and the spontaneous emissions on the conversion efficiency are also investigated.