Tried to install windows to see if I could reproduce and or install that bios update.
The issue happened again while I was trying to reformat disk my via a fedora boot usb since I had the whole thing encrypted. Second time was the charm and was able to wipe the drive and get it to a format windows recognizes.
Installed windows via a windows boot usb. Fun fact, touchpad did not function during this process so I had to navigate around with tab. Not the end of the world. If anyone is stuck on accepting the tos, that checkbox only accepts space bar as an input, not enter. 
Got windows all installed and ran into a few hurdles. Wifi was not working. Spent 10 minutes to go find an ethernet cable and dongle. Right as I got back to the laptop, I was greeting by an immediate blue screen. Upon next boot, I got the message “Default Boot Device Missing”. Awesome.
Luckily, I came across a thread about this very thing while looking into my original issue.
When I find time to fiddle around some more, I’ll see if I can get windows reinstalled, the wd software downloaded and the firmware installed. Hopefully I can manage it before a blue screen. I’ll report back if that fixes things and if it was related to my original issue. I suspect its possible.