my guess on the fan, you can try putting the TAN (brown? I am color blind) and BLUE wire into the terminal on the thermostat marked "G". Remember my note about the fan, only in AC/ cool mode. Further, Note, there is usually NO low / high speed fan selection on today's home thermostats as furnaces (hence AC units) are typically DC controlled with air volume sensors that are fixed at the board level.
OOPS... I see that is what you have tried.... sorry as I didn't remember all your good info.
OK... then hook the TAN to the cool (yellow, I think) and leave the BLUE on the G.