Completely frustrating laptop - Black Screens, IE Windows Keep opening

Hey guys, new here, and I figured one of you Windows 7 gurus could help me out, I'd really appreciate it.

I've been working on my friend's laptop for days and it is extremely frustrating. He has an HP Pavilion DV6T-6100 CTO Select Edition, with W7 Home Premium, about 2 years old.

Originally, he thought he downloaded a virus that kept making IE windows pop up over and over again.
We scanned with many products,
ESET Smart Security, Malwarebytes, Kaspersky, TrendMicro, McAfee, a ton of things.

Went to bleepingcomputer, did combofix, anti-rootkit, etc. Still nothing.
So we used Dban's nuke and boot, used PRNG method with 8 passes, installed a clean copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, reflashed the BIOS, and IE windows are still opening.

His factory recovery disks aren't working, they keep locking up on installation, and sometimes on reboot the computer wouldn't post and just get stuck on a black screen, sometimes it'll boot fine.

The only thing we can think of is the internet button next to his power on button is short circuited or something cause that opens windows, other than that, we are at a total loss for what's going on. Any advice would be appreciated.