Next day... not a bad dream
I do plan to try tech support again... I could barely understand the lady I was speaking to last night and not in the mood to argue at the time. My warranty ended July 29... warranties should absolutely be one of those things where, internally, they actually end something like 14 days after the advertised date, kind of like how the speed limit in most places is actually 5mph over the posted number. It's pretty damn ridiculous to have to pay hundreds of dollars for service because the one year warranty ended 3 days before. It's also a quick way to create an upset customer.
The BIOS update wasn't mandatory, but when it comes straight off the HP website for my laptop it shouldn't be causing problems. Looking around the internet, it seems a number of people have had problems with the WinFlash BIOS updater.