BINGO -- removing the jumper from the adapter board did the trick. After I fired it back up and waited the 4 minutes (or until "wait" goes off) - I still had "no flow" - I calabrated by pushing in the small button on the adapter board for 5 secs or until the green flow light was illuminated on the adapter board - then still had "no flow' for about 5-10 secs, and then it changed to flow - and all seems good now. The sensor and cell I removed are probably good, but I don't want to chance and pull anything out, so guess I will put them up for the future.
Also of note: when I removed the adapter board and pluged the sensor RJ-45 cord directly into the backboard socket, I did get flow; however, the cell stayed in continious reverse (although it appeared to be making chlorine). When I removed the jumper and reinserted the adapter board in-line, the "cell reversing" light went out and now cell is on and there is flow.