OK – I tried reflashing the firmware before posting (most recent, and last year’s) no less than 5 times with no change.. before responding I wanted to re-attempt all of this with a hopefully fresher mind since I was getting frustrated earlier.
Re-flashed again with the latest and immediately got the WiFi icon and white bars, then green bars, then the IP, exactly as intended.
So, file this under user error or Try, Try again I guess. 🙂 I’m good now.
Thanks so much!