SQL query issues: [1] Count(*) and [2] using NOT vs <> - php

Question

I have been staring at this code so long it is starting to bleed together. So let's get a couple things out of the way:
I am a low-moderate level SQL user and am still learning the best ways to accomplish queries and such
I have been building a PHP based quote-generator tool that ties in with an SQL database
Now, here is what I am trying to accomplish:
I would like to have pagination with the results of quotes that have been created with a status that is NOT "Dead", "Duplicate", or "Signed" and the ID does NOT equal 999 (because I wanted the quotes to jump to 1000 and I did not build the database correctly at first)
Here is what I have accomplished:
I was able to create the basic structure and it works just fine on page 1... then it all goes sideways. I was thinking that it was something to do with my count(*) query, but that seems fine - well functional, at least:
$countQry = "SELECT COUNT(*)
from needsassessment
WHERE ID <> 999
AND status <> 'Dead'
AND status <> 'Duplicate'
AND status <> 'Signed'";
$countResult = $mysqli->query($countQry);
while($rowQ = mysqli_fetch_array($countResult)) {
$totalRows = $rowQ[0];
$each = ceil($totalRows/$limit);
$where = "WHERE ID > 0";
if ($totalRows == 0) {
echo "You have not created any quotes.";
}
}
$limit = 15;
if (isset($_GET['q']) && $_GET['q'] !== "") {
$offset = $_GET['q'];
} else {
$offset = 0;
}
$query = "SELECT * FROM needsassessment $where
where $and
AND ID <> 999
AND NOT status = 'Dead'
AND NOT status = 'Duplicate'
AND NOT status = 'Signed'
ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT $offset, $limit";
$result = $mysqli->query($query);
$row_cnt = mysqli_num_rows($result);
if ($row_cnt == 0) {
echo "You have not created any quotes."; die;
}
if (!isset($each)) {
$each = $row_cnt/$limit;
}
if ($each > 1) {
echo "<ul class='pagination'>";
for($i=1,$y=0;$i<=$each,$y<=($each-1);$i++,$y++) {
echo "<li><a";
if ($offset == ($y*15)) {echo ' class="active"';}
echo " href='?q=".($y*15)."'>$i</a></li>";
}
echo "</ul>";
}
Okay, so here are my questions:
I saw someone say that using PHP's mysqli_num_rows() is wrong and
that I should use SQL's COUNT(*). Why? Does it have a different result or take longer?
What is going on with page's
2 and 3? When I do a row count it says it sees 15 rows but only some
are showing. I have some records (i.e. those with a status of
"Signed" or "Dead") that are excluded from this list and I was
thinking that may have been the issue, but it doesn't seem to matter
on the first page.
What is the difference - if there is one -
between "NOT" and "<>" for checking records?
If you have any suggestions or if I have done anything blatantly wrong or inefficiently please let me know so I can correct it :)
Thanks to all that make Stack Overflow AWESOME!
EDIT:
There certainly was some code missing:
if (!isset($sst)) {
$where = "";
$sst = "";
$countQry = "SELECT COUNT(*) from needsassessment WHERE ID <> 999 AND status <> 'Dead' AND status <> 'Duplicate' AND status <> 'Signed'";
$countResult = $mysqli->query($countQry);
while($rowQ = mysqli_fetch_array($countResult)) {
$totalRows = $rowQ[0];
$each = ceil($totalRows/$limit);
$where = "WHERE ID > 0";
if ($totalRows == 0) {echo "You have not created any quotes.";}
}
}
else {
if ($option !== "*") {
$where = "WHERE ".$option." LIKE '%".$sst."%'";
}
if ($option == "*") {
$where = "WHERE status LIKE '%".$sst."%' OR title LIKE '%".$sst."%' OR propType LIKE '%".$sst."%' OR pSType LIKE '%".$sst."%' OR createDate LIKE '%".$sst."%'";
}
$offset = 0;
}
if ($_SESSION['admin'] >= 1) {
$and = "";
}
else {
$and = "AND creatorID = '".$_SESSION['user']."'";
}