XPS 9350 - MeSpiLock and Power Management Issues

Hello,

I've been trying to track down a few issues which started related to power management of this laptop a few months ago (to my knowledge). My wife had noticed that whenever the computer went to sleep, the lid closed, etc., all applications were being closed. 

Digging into this, I noticed I was seeing the following message on bootup:

(A7) Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed

For power management issues, I did a system health check and did confirm the battery was failing. I replaced that, as well as the CMOS battery (although the voltage still measured fine) as a precaution. While that did improve overall battery life, there was no real change otherwise.

I started working to track that down, and it led me to settings for Bios as well as overall system status. Out of a desire to try and further root cause the issue, I reformatted the install, and then patched the system with all available patches through Microsoft as well as Dell's supportAssist application. Unfortunately, no luck with that.

Digging into the MeSpiLock failed messages further, it seems that some people have had success with Bios compatibility. It looks like my Bios is still sitting at 1.4.4 (6/14/2016), although there are significantly newer versions of the bios available. However, any attempts to install the latest BIOS show the install initiate in Windows, and the laptop restart, but never see the system update the Bios itself. 

If I attempt to Flash the Bios itself from within the Bios,  I am met with a garbled display screen. I've attempted once  to see if it would output successfully to another screen, but unsurprisingly it will not during boot. 
Bios OptionsGarbled Bios Flash Update Screen

Other changes, such as Diagnostics do not show any signs of other errors. I had also heard the Intel Management Engine (ME) Firmware may prevent bios updates, if they are not synchronized in some fashion. I pulled the latest copy from the dell website for this device, and manually installed them with administator privileges outside of SupportAssist. They appear to have installed successfully. However, I also downloaded Intels CSME Detection Tool, and for the following settings:

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30 GHz
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

The Intel(R) ME Information comes back as:

• Engine: Intel(R) Management Engine
• Version: Unknown

I have tried a few other things related to UEFI settings and boot modes, but realistically have not had any success with them. I also don't have a strong sense of what I am doing with those, so perhaps could have missed something.

Any help or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.