My rule is, 'Always listen to what the gun is telling you and don't try to force it to do anything.' I think your AR is telling you it cannot go into battery, which is also why the upper will not open - the bolt carrier is not clear of the receiver ring. Please do not try to fire it again until you have fixed it or had it fixed - you do not want it to fire out of battery, I can assure you of that. Problems like this are somewhat of a disadvantage with the Stoner design when compared to earlier rifles and the M1 Carbine with the bolt in full view and a handle to open and close it.
Open the upper and work the bolt carrier to see that it does or does not properly lock the bolt. Assuming it does (it should snap into battery easily, almost fall into lock if you tilt the upper), put it back together and manually cycle it (pull the charging handle back and let it snap forward) - it should go into battery every time. Of course the rifle should be free of ammunition, so you can snap the trigger after every cycle. Once it does all this, or fails to, you should have more of an idea what's happening.