After I updated everything and removed OLD cache files, my board shows up but there are a few issues now:

1. Missing drop down option under one of the forums and cannot set permissions under simple permissions tab.



2. User permissions - still not able to add permissions under simple permissions




3. Does the same for ANY new additional forum I add...cannot edit permissions for either USER or Group.


Is there a more simple way to reset all permissions or am I looking at many manual labor hours

The problem you are pointing sometimes happens when some permissions are changed in some private access forums.

It happened to me in the past... but I can't remember how I've solved it.

I'll try to figure it out and I'll try to help you.

Regarding your second point... I think it's not a bug, because if the user is admin or mod, could not be set as ACCESS NOT ALLOWED.

The only easy way to reset all permissions, should be to empty the AUTH table... but you should be quite confident with what you're doing if you want to try this way. And of course having a full DB backup...

I dumped the Auth tables and should I see this many group ID's?? I only have 4 actual groups in place?? Also, If I do delete them all, I still ahve to have at least one back in place to login..correct??

If you empty the AUTH table you will lose all authorizations you gave to groups and users, such as private access and moderation. As I said before... if you feel confident with your PHP and MySQL skills, try to empty that table, and your problems should be fixed (of course you should then setup again permissions from scratch!).

In any case, make sure you have a full DB backup, to be able to restore the AUTH table, but even something else if needed!

Thanks for the advice

You're welcome... let me know if you solve your problem in this way.