Wait, which version were you on before you went to 0.96? You should be on 0.96.5.
I was on 96.5 but then saw it was a beta so went back. Back on 96.5 now.
Core is failing to start in the first place. Please run Bitcoin-Qt manually and report.
Core is latest version. Ran it, it took about 3 minutes to update. Then I ran 0.96.5 and after the startup screen got the Disconnected message here:
https://ibb.co/vB3NcMvThought that was the one I was using but installed from your link, and it appears to be the same.
After clearing the "Disconnected" error message I have Node Status green, Build Databases is grayed out, and I'm not even to Scanning transaction history.
Thanks for the help everyone.