Your right - I really botched that (should never ask questions at the end of a long day of spinning wheels).
I don't think the switch is functioning correctly - looking for an alternate way to do a factory reset that works. I did the clear & reset button. I have also ran erase startup-config through a telnet session.
The reason I believe the switch is not working right, is that the console connection does not respond correctly - it starts to make connection, gets to a point where it says to hit enter twice, and then goes nowhere from there. The web interface also does not respond correctly. For example, If I go to the diagnostic tab and try to type an IP address in to ping, it will not let me type anything in. This is how all of the boxes are that can be typed into, such as switch location, IP address, etc.
I am at the latest firmware on the switch, which I reloaded, in case there was a problem with that, but got the same thing. Would downgrading to the original firmware that came with the device perhaps make a difference?
Thank you for any assistance/advice.