RBasil,
I am having the exact same problem you described a few days ago. Iā've verified the two rows exist with the correct values in the jiveversion table using the SQL DB browser that comes with OpenFire.
When I launch the Admin console, it takes several minutes for the console to appear, and the server appears to shut down and restart numerous times (because the IM client keeps shutting down and restarting due to the connection being lost). Also, even though I have clicked on the install button for all of the plugins I want enabled (and the JAR files appear in the plugins directory on the server), the plugins never actually run.
I, too, found Wildire 3.2 to be more stable and may have to roll back to it quickly myself. I have found for some reason that users tend to be less tolerant of a squaking IM client than just about anything else.