Well, I finally caved and paid them their "repair/replace" fee.
Wanted to tell them they could take their replacement fee and shove it (and where), but the repair fee was $30-40+ (depending upon sales and/or what vendor) less than buying a new board through a vendor and the motherboard is after all the only component I am missing for my AM3 "gaming" build.
Also figured that selling a motherboard that was broken in the way that mine was would be difficult and there would be a limited market for a board with no internet connectivity and a BIOS that won't save settings (benchers maybe?), but I bench myself and couldn't deal with those issues (how do you submit a score to HWBot without internet access? Use another computer, yet another PITA, having to go from one computer to another to make submissions.)
Called today to attempt to verify if they received my payment information, and found out that apparently they have a replacement board already reserved for me, they couldn't tell me the model of the replacement board though (can anyone say clueless?). So, it's a mystery what they will send me, if they send me a new board at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they screw me over again and just send me back my original unrepaired board, or send the unrepaired board first and then the replacement later. If they have to upgrade me there are very few upgrades which have similar features to my board, given the fact that it was a top-of-the-line motherboard in that model line and the only one with those features, if they do upgrade me to the next model-line up it would have to be to the next socket type up (AM3+) and be either the Asus M5A99X EVO, Sabertooth 990FX, Crosshair V Formula or Crosshair V Formula/Thunderbolt, because there just aren't any other boards in the AM3 socket type that support the features I want/need and that made me purchase the motherboard.-That's what I get for buying a top-of-the-line board near the end of its lifespan (or the end of its production).
I guess I can hope for a Crosshair V Formula or a Sabertooth 990FX, but it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.
I'm told now that it will be another 5-10 business days before I receive my replacement, or maybe they said it would be that long before they send the replacement out, I don't know they were a little unclear on that part. Why that would take so long when they supposedly already have a replacement ready and waiting for me, have my old board in their possession, and have my payment information, I don't know.