Start-up Problems

[GPag]

My wife's Spectre x360 is experiencing startup issues.   I need to provide some history and also describe what it is doing now so this may be a lengthy problem statement.

This summer my wife noticed that the keyboard seemed to be bulging a little.  I had an "oh @&E" reaction and gingerly opened up the laptop.  The battery looked like the time I started filling my son's waterbed, walked away and forgot that I was filling my son's waterbed.  I got a new battery and replaced it.  When I was putting everything back together I couldn't get the two wireless cables to stay connected to the network adapter.  After being disconnected and reconnected several times from making changes to the laptop, the cables ends were too beat up to stay connected.  I ordered an external wireless adapter.  After the external wireless was connected things seemed fine for a while but then odd stuff started happening.  I opened the system and removed the internal network adapter, which I did not remove during the battery replacement.
After that the system seemed to be ok for a time but then started having the same problems which all seemed to be software related (I'm getting to what it was/is doing).  Running software diagnostics didn't help. Since the system was running Windows 8 I did a complete new install of Windows 10.
I think after the upgrade the system ran ok for a while but I cannot be certain since by this time my wife may have just accepted it as normal behavior and not said anything.

So, this is what it was/is doing. Every evening she closes the cover (I haven't looked to see what the power settings are). In the morning sometimes the power light is on, sometimes it is off. What the system will do when she opens the cover is unpredictable but one of these things will happen:

Power Light Off

1. Open the cover
2. Power on the system
3. After the power button is pressed the system may do any of the following actions:
   • Come up normally (rare)
   • HP logo comes up with activity indicator then the system shuts itself off
   • HP logo comes up on black screen with activity indicator, then changes to blue screen with sad cartoon face and says problem with device, needs to restart.  It shuts down and powers off.
   • HP Logo comes up system says it is going into auto repair, then says it has to restart; system shuts down and powers off.
   • HP logo comes up with the spinning activity indicator on the black screen and it says preparing to auto-repair. Screen then turns blue and asks what keyboard you want. Once that is answered with the US keyboard, the system gives the option to troubleshoot along with other options. She chooses Troubleshoot and then the startup repair option. System says it is diagnosing the system, then couldn't repair and then gives the choice of Advanced options or
     Shutdown. Trying Advanced never fixes anything so she chooses Shutdown.  System shuts down and powers off.
     When it is powered back on it may repeat the same scenario or
     it may come up with the HP logo and then shut itself off or
     it may come up with the HP Logo and say it is going into auto repair then say it has to restart and then shuts off.

There is no rhyme or reason to which event will occur.  They are random.  Each time the system is powered on it will do one of these things.   Eventually Windows will come up and once it does everything is fine.  Before that happens the system may go through one of these start-up issues once or twice or 10 times.  There is no telling what the first one will be or the second or the seventh.  Again, they are completely random, -it may come up with no problem (very rare)

Power Light on

If the power light is on in the morning the only difference is that when the lid is opened there may be a checksum error on the screen.

- open the cover, power on the
She opens the cover, the screen is black and does not come on. moving and clicking the mouse, trying the keyboard, using the touchscreen does noto do anything. She then turns it off and powers back on. The HP logo comes up on the black screen along with the spinning activity indicator. Then it will do one of these things:
- Come up normally (very rare)
-hp logo blk sctrn, spinner, goes to light blue with sad face graphic, says problem with device, need to restart then shuts dosn and power goes off. 
- The HP logo comes up with the spinning activity indicator on the black screen and it says preparing to auto-repair. The screen then turns blue and asks what keyboard you want. Once that is answered with the US keyboard, the system then gives the option to troubleshoot along with other options. She chooses the troubleshoot and then the startup repair option. The system says it is diagnosing the system, then couldn't repair and then gives the choice of Advanced or
Shutdown. Trying Advanced never fixes anything she chooses Shutdown. It shuts down and powers off.
When it is powered back on it may repeat the same scenario or
it may come up with the HP logo and then shut itself off or
it may come up with the HP Logo and say it is gping into auto repair then say it has to restart and then shuts off

Some variation of these things keeps happening until eventually it will start and come up normally. These different start-up events may happen once, twice or 10 times before it starts normally. There is no pattern or sequence to them, it may shut off, it may show the auto repair screen, it may just start normally. It doesn't do the same thing each time.

The only difference from the power light being on or off in the morning is, if it is on, when the lid is opened, there may be a checksum error on the screen, and it says to press Return to reboot which only shuts down and powers off the system.  

then we're back to the above "Power Light Off" merry-go-round.

I originally thought that these problems were software related but since they have occurred with two operating systems I am now assuming it is a boot firmware or hardware issue.   All the hardware tests pass.  

Do these start-up problems sound like they could be boot firmware related?  What should I do to start debugging firmware problems?