I installed GrandNode via the Github cloning, and it went through install, but took forever to complete install.   After awhile I was directed to login through the front-end.  I used the login I setup during install, and it looks like it logged in (no error) but doesn't redirect to the Admin, nor will it let me go to "/admin", as it just keeps going back to the login page.  To test, I tried a user login that wasn't created and got the expected error.

Not sure how to proceed?

I suppose the GrandNode installation is not complete. It may be caused by many reasons, timeout during installation, lost connection, it shouldn't take much time. Usually, even on the cheapest droplet on DigitalOcean, installation takes ~15-20 seconds. After successfull installation, you should see the message with information that installation is complete and it's required to restart application.