Hope this helps someone and save you the countless hours I spent if the previous tips don't do it for you either:
After a last ditch, desperation attempt at a new install I finally am able to log in. I basically had to go into the db backup and remove everything that wasn't related to the content and that seemed to do whatever needed to be done.
OR
I also removed a few squirrley addons like fblogin (that never seemed to install correctly, and eIRTE rich text addon beta *cough* that was the last addon I installed.
Still not sure exactly what did it, but I was in hammer mode and took out everything that could be it and now I am back up. For reference for those that want to try this method the tables I restored were:
Content Tables
If you used the default setting on the install your db_prefix is probably "modx". Otherwise it's whatever prefix you defined during install.
[li]{db-prefix}_categories_closure[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_dashboard_widget
(only because I had Big Brother Addon which installs a manager widget. If you have no custom widgets you probably won't need to restore this.)[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_dashboard_widget_placement
(same as above)[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_documentgroup_names[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_element_property_sets[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_menus[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_property_set[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_content[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_htmlsnippets[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_snippets[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_templates[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_tmplvars[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_tmplvar_contentvalues[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_site_tmplvar_templates[/li]
Addon Stuff Only if you Have These Installed
Note here is that you need to compare at your db dump to a clean install with no addons to determine what tables your addons have create in your db.
Gallery Addon Tables
[li]{db-prefix}_gallery_albums[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_gallery_album_contexts[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_gallery_album_items[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_gallery_items[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_gallery_tags[/li]
Quip Addon Tables
[li]{db-prefix}_quip_comments[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_quip_comments_closure[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_quip_comment_notify[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_quip_threads[/li]
Redirect Addon Tables
[li]{db-prefix}_redirects[/li]
Register(Login) Addon Tables ( I think... if you have them save them.)
[li]{db-prefix}_register_queues[/li]
[li]{db-prefix}_register_topics[/li]
This required a fresh install and manual installation of all addons, then the clear cache, flush sessions, restore the db tables above, reinstall (upgrade) and viola.
Note: I backed up the newly installed db before I attempted the import so I could revert to it if the import didn't work this time. Of course the one time I though to do it I didn't need it:)
This method is not for the faint hearted and probably only for the desperate like I was that had little to lose and some db experience. Of course if anyone smarter than me would care to correct, expand, or clarify, I'm sure it would be useful.
))
☆ A M B ☆
