Just in regard to your 'disable update server' suggestion, this gets rid of the "downloading aqev2_pm.chk" error but simply results in a different issue:
Info: Connecting to MQTT Broker with Client ID "egg0080270af1a80153" using Authentication...Failed.
Error: Unable to connect to MQTT server
and RESTART CONTINUOUSLY again 
As for the Eggs with the CC3000 initialization errors, well I can't even get into config mode to try much with them. Is there an alternative way to access config mode, to the Codebender plugin (online interface)?.
A question: when I updated to 2.0.8, it definitely removes the old firmware, right? Could wiping the memory completely and re-adding 2.0.8 be an avenue worth trying?
Many thanks