I figure I learned some new stuff, which always happens when I stick it out long enough to get something like this resolved - which I usually do, because I think it's a bad idea to let the machine believe it's smarter than you are. They can smell your fear, these beasties.
Anyway I'd never updated BIOS before, now I know how to do that and have done it successfully so it's not something to be inordinately nervous about anymore.
