Dell Powerconnect 6248P Security certificate issue for HTTPS

I have 2 stacked DELL Powerconnect 6248P switches. I am unable to get HTTPS working. Specifically I am unable to generate a certificate during the setup process. I am using firmware 3.3.14.2.  I proceed with setting up the HTTPS server thusly:

console#config
console(config)#username xxxxxxx(ie admin) password yyyyyyyy level 15
console(config)#ip http authentication local
console(config)#ip https authentication local
console(config)#crypto certificate 1 generate
console(config-crypto-cert)#key-generate

However at this point I am presented with the following (even after clearing config and setting to factory defaults in boot menu):

Self-signed Certificate and RSA key-pair Exists.
If you want to overwrite Existing keys, Enter 'y'.
If you want to keep existing keys as it is, Enter 'n'.
[y:n]

nvalid Key! Key Length Should be in the range <512- 2048>.

console(config-crypto-cert)#e  <-after typing one character its like i pressed the return key, i cannot issue further commands.

console(config-crypto-cert)#x

console(config-crypto-cert)#i

console(config-crypto-cert)#t

As you can see from the above I cannot input anything in the CLI anymore as every character I type results in an EOL and it moves to the next line. I have to either wait for the system to log out, or hard reset.

I have tried the following as well with no success:

console(config-crypto-cert)#key-generate 1024  (this returns a blank line and does not alter or create a new certificate)

console(config)#crypto certificate generate key_generate

 

Is there any way to clear the current certificate information?  Any ideas? No matter what I have tried firefox returns the same error:

Secure Connection Failed

An error occurred during a connection to 192.168.0.254. You have received an invalid certificate. Please contact the server administrator or email correspondent and give them the following information: Your certificate contains the same serial number as another certificate issued by the certificate authority. Please get a new certificate containing a unique serial number. Error code: SEC_ERROR_REUSED_ISSUER_AND_SERIAL

I have already tried:

console(config)#ip https certificate 1

Any help would be grateful. The fact that CLI no longer works after the "key-generate" statement really has me perplexed