So I wish I had a better solution for you all but we ended up doing another factory reset and configured the switch using just the CLI.  That seemed to have enabled us to get it working properly.  It was wierd though because we tried making changes to ports 23 and 24 through the CLI but most settings would not stick. It just didn't make any sense.  I don't know if it was due to a glitch or something I did wrong while trying to configure it using the GUI but in any event, using just the CLI helped.
I currently bought two Dell PowerConnect 5524 switches but one of them is not taking my configuration settings properly. I’ve reset the switch to factory settings and tried again but it did the same thing. I did have it updated to the latest firmware version: 4.1.0.12 A08 and the active image does say 4.1.0.12, so updating that won’t do me any good. This switch will be in a new building and connected to another switch in another building. Switch #2 is a Dell PowerConnect 5548, is already up and running, configured in a similar way, and has been used for quite some time.   Here are the steps I took: Powered on the unit, connected to it through the CLI using hyperterminal and went through the startup wizard. I don’t use SNMP so I skipped that. I gave it the admin user ID and password, an IP address of 192.168.31.200 and the subnet mask of 255.255.255.128 (all of my switches are on this same .31 vlan). I then set my laptop up with an IP address on the same .31 network and connected to the GUI just fine through port #20. I set the time, turned off Spanning Tree and backed up my running config to the startup config.   I know the next part is probably easier for some of you to do via the CLI but I stuck with the GUI since I’ve never gotten myself comfortable with the CLI. I added my eight vlans – 28 through 35. I don’t think it matters what they are for other than .31 which is my management vlan at my office for my switches.   I trunked ports 23, 24 and the two SFP ports for all my vlans. I then set ports #1 through #19 for the other vlans. I left ports #20 to 22 on vlan 1 as a backup measure in case I lock myself out. Again, I copied my running config to the startup config.   I then changed the default management vlan from vlan 1 to vlan 31 (System à IP Addressing à IPv4 Interface Parameter).   The next part is what is not working. If I connect port #23 or #24 to any other switch, I still can’t ping or connect to the switch through that port (I did trunk the port on the other switch to the same .31 vlan just like I do for any other switch connection). When I go into the GUI on this switch and look at the vlan management settings (Switching à VLAN à VLAN Membership) it appears that ports 23, 24, and the two SFP ports are trunked on all the vlans except for the .31 vlan. The .31 vlan is showing up as untagged on those two ports. I don’t know how this is possible since those ports are in trunk mode and not general or access mode.   I also notice that the PVID option on all ports are grayed out so I can’t change them. The native VLAN option allows me to change the vlan to .31 but this doesn’t seem to affect anything. Removing the trunked vlan 1 from port 24 doesn’t change anything and changing those ports to general mode doesn’t help. The last thing that I noticed is that under Switching à VLAN à Port Settings, that the PVID on all the ports is 1 yet this option was grayed out when I updated each individual port to a different vlan.   Needlessto say, when I connect this switch from port #24 to a working switch that has its port trunked on the .31 vlan, they aren’ talking with each other. PCs on my network can’t reach this new switch and my laptop isn’t able to reach anything on my network.   So am I forgetting something? Is there anything I can check? Is the PVID on these ports my problem? Or if I were to try this via the CLI what commands can I try?
Need help getting 5524 switch to connect to network