Im wondering if their is anyway to return the firmware back to factory settings aka the one that came pre installed and if anyone can give me a detailed guide potentially? ive looked everywhere and have been unsuccessful, but i assume it'll involve a sd card with one of the software batches on it.
The Sdcard will flash the recovery firmware, not the firmware which the miner came with, it's impossible to know which firmware the miner had before you flashed it now that you flashed it, only you or the person you bought it from could know.
Every batch comes with a different firmware version, so you can't know which is which, what you can do, however, is select one from the list here
https://service.bitmain.com/support/download?product=Antminer%20S9 , you want to avoid every firmware from 2019-08-19 onward if you want SSH enabled and if you plan on migrating at later times.
Keep in mind that the Sdcard recover files will most likely install an old firmware with no Asicboost enabled.
