HP Envy Recline 27 stuck on HP logo after BIOS update

[JurassicCow]

I have an HP ENVY Recline TouchSmart All-in-One 27 desktop computer which has been working perfectly for years.

I reinstalled my Windows 10 OS this past summer just to give everything a clean slate, but made the mistake of installing the HP Support Assistant in the process of getting drivers from the HP website, which downloaded the BIOS update and forced a restart today.

Following the restart, the boot process hung at the HP logo. Attempting to press ESC, F9, or F10 repeatedly as the PC is turned on results in the action being shown in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen along with a POST message showing the computer hardware.

The new BIOS is 80.10 Rev.A; it was previously on 80.00 Rev.A

Searching online, I found that others encountered the same problem, with no real resolution:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/Stuck-on-POST-after-BIOS-update/td-p/6576381

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/HP-ENVY-All-in-One-27-p014-Bricked-after-Bios-...

Questions:

1) Is there any way to recover my desktop?
- I have already attempted WIN+B, only to have the system hang at a black screen or HP logo after emitting the 8 beeps.
- Creating a BIOS USB drive did not seem to do anything

- All hardware is OEM, and I have tried reseating them and and replacing them with non-OEM

2) Why, after multiple people have had an issue with the BIOS wrecking their systems, did HP not pull the BIOS update from their website or replace it with one that didn't kill others' computers?

3) Will buying a replacement pre-programmed BIOS chip suffice to get the system working, or will I need to replace the entire motherboard?

While I understand the system is older and due to be replaced (I do have a custom-built PC that I use), this system was used to run various software and had its hardware registered as part of the licensing process, and it was too difficult to go through unregistering it then, and almost impossible now.