Major search function issue

Try adding <?php get_search_form();?> where you want the search box to be displayed.

I tried that, but it just reloads the page and the content goes away.

Where did you add it? To the page or to the template? It should be in the latter.

In the template, but I think I may have remove the code that it gets posted to and displays results.

The results are displayed using the search.php template file.