Thanks so much for the great help! The Ted fix led me in the right direction. My machine was doing exactly as described. I took the lid off and checked the ribbon cable. It was attached in the back properly already. I followed it to where it connected to FRONT. It went into a small rabbit hole so I poked around in it with my finger. I tried to take the front cover off (worried the whole time that I was going to damage it...) after a few unsuccessful attempts I just pushed it back into place, plugged it in and voila, all of the buttons worked.
So if anyone is trying the Ted fix and is unsuccessful try this before you screw the lid back on.
Thank you again!