The new syntax was a bug fix to prevent errors on newer versions of php that no longer recognize that old syntax... they both do the same thing.
As long as you uploaded both of the files they should be in sync and that shouldn't cause any problems. I could look into what the issue is on your site to help. Give me a call and I'll look into it with you in a screen sharing session to better understand what is going on and see if there is something we need to fix.