I replied to your cross post on the admin issue already.
The reply issue is usually a permission setting.
In your case you can check it at
Control Panel ยป Group Management select the forum link for each group one at a time.
Check the "Can reply to existing topics " setting. It should be the right column second one down.
They should be set to 1 in each desired forum to enable the group to reply.
As far as the database issue just like your user groups set incorrectly, I suggest opening a support ticket so Rick can take a peek.
