filter stopped filtering and no footer

this plugin has worked perfectly for 2 years but now there are two major issues.

1) the filters check boxes when checked do not do anything – the page remains idle as if they had not been checked.

2) there is no footer on the pages were the filters show up and the WP toolbar dissapears.

my footer php code is still in tact. de-activating the plugin resolves problem 2 but need to get issue 1 resolved so I can reactive the plugin.

can anyone shed any ideas on this? I have just upgraded to WP4.7 also, running generate press theme.