Replaced Airport card to enable BT 4.0, now WiFi fails to connect

Hello,

Running a MacBook Pro early 2011 running Sierra 10.12.6. I recently replaced my Airport card with a part from iFixit in an effort to enable Handoff without needing an external dongle (kept breaking them). I had used the Continuity Activation Tool developed for this purpose with moderate success, as discussed in this thread: Can I Upgrade Airport card to get Bluetooth 4.0 and BLE?

I replaced my WiFi/BT card with the recommended Broadcom BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX card from iFixit. Performed installation with no problems, started up fine, but now neither WiFi and Bluetooth extremely intermittent, most often don’t work, with or without the Continuity tool activated. WiFi searches for my network but cannot connect and prompts me to perform diagnostics, but I'm using ethernet so I know network is up. (Note: WiFi dropping/failing to connect was also an issue prior to replacement.) Bluetooth often cannot connect, but works immediately with old dongle. Hardware is recognized in both cases, so I’m not getting the “hardware missing” message many do. (For what it is worth, literally while typing this, WiFi and Bluetooth began to work.)

Steps done to try to fix the issue:

• Installed beta version of Continuity Activation Tool for Sierra
• Renewed DHCP Lease (no effect, IP address, etc. not autofilled)
• Reset PRAM and SMC (multiple times)
• Uninstalled and reinstalled CAT (multiple times)
• WiFi briefly restored on restart after computer battery died, after next sleep and wakeup stopped working again

System reports below. Is this a bad card? Software incompatibility? I’d rather not continue with a consistently fragile WiFi connection just for the sake of having AirDrop, etc.. Many thanks for any help.

John

Bluetooth:

Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 5.0.5f4

Hardware, Features, and Settings:

Name: john’s MacBook Pro

Address: 5c-96-9d-98-4b-ec

Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes

Handoff Supported: No

Instant Hot Spot Supported: No

Manufacturer: Broadcom

Transport: USB

Chipset: 20702A3

Firmware Version: v154 c5903

Bluetooth Power: On

Discoverable: On

Connectable: Yes

Auto Seek Pointing: On

Remote wake: Off

Vendor ID: 0x05AC

Product ID: 0x821D

HCI Version: 4.0 (0x6)

HCI Revision: 0x170F

LMP Version: 4.0 (0x6)

LMP Subversion: 0x229A

Device Type (Major): Computer

Device Type (Complete): Mac Portable

Composite Class Of Device: 0x38010C

Device Class (Major): 0x01

Device Class (Minor): 0x03

Service Class: 0x1C0

Auto Seek Keyboard: Off

WiFi:

Software Versions:

CoreWLAN: 11.0 (1200.31)

CoreWLANKit: 12.0 (1200.31)

Menu Extra: 12.0 (1200.47.1)

System Information: 12.0 (1200.3)

IO80211 Family: 12.0 (1200.12.2)

Diagnostics: 7.0 (700.5)

AirPort Utility: 6.3.7 (637.6)

Interfaces:

en1:

Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0xF5)

Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.26)

MAC Address: 5c:96:9d:98:4b:eb

Locale: APAC

Country Code: GB

Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140

Wake On Wireless: Supported

AirDrop: Supported

Status: Not Associated