Beware!
 
I've already ruled out any problems from the videocard and other hard drives.
Usually when the BIOS doesn't show it's an obvious motherboard issue.. not a good sign.
But this is literally a week old motherboard.. so that led me to look into other options.
 
From the events that followed (Windows said it was doing something and restarting.. then no boot after restarting) I've surmised that, somehow, Windows 8 managed to corrupt the BIOS image.
The plan is to reset the CMOS battery.. and hope.
 
Any suggestions in case this doesn't work?