BIOSConnect not recognizing network adaptors after Data Wipe

On a Latitude 5300 2-in-1 I recently wanted to restore the original OS image using BIOSConnect and SupportAssist OS Recovery. So I switched it on, pressed F12 and chose the appropriate option. I was then presented with a WiFi connection setup screen which listed the locally available networks after a few seconds. Upon entry of the WPS key it started downloading the data. Somewhere in the middle of the download process I decided to abort and wipe the hard disk first because I was planning on giving it away after that. So I chose the 'Data Wipe' option from the BIOS menu and after completing the wipe I chose the BIOSConnect option once again to restart the download and installation. This time it did not list WiFi networks, though. Instead there was a message stating that I should connect a wired network connection or a USB Ethernet adaptor. Since this computer has no Ethernet connector I connected a USB adaptor but it was not recognized by BIOSConnect (it was, however, correctly shown in the list of connected USB devices as an Ethernet adaptor).

So, what could have happened here? Could the Data Wipe also have purged some hidden flash or ROM storage on which drivers for WiFi and Ethernet resided? If not, why would BIOSConnect suddenly not recognize the built-in WiFi adaptor any more?