I had something kiind of similar once, where it would only boot after trying to boot once, letting it run a bit in idle, and then rebooting where it would actually succeed. Turned out I forgot to put the clear cmos jumper back to neutral after i reset cmos.
So my best guess (other than new battery) is check the jumpers maybe
They’re technically voluntary but also socially expected. I’m not sure about birthday gifts in particular but Japan is a country where if you go on holiday somewhere you’re expected to bring a gift for each of your coworkers, and people will think worse of you for not doing that. I’d be kind of surprised if omitting birthday gifts for your romantic partner without prior agreement is a real option.