[RESOLVED] GRUB freezes when attempt to use the keyboard - The most perplexing problem I've had in a long time.

[oshunluvr]

Last week I unplugged everything from my computer and apparently since setting it back up, I can no longer touch the keyboard while GRUB is booting or the booting process freezes. I can move the menu selection with the down arrow one or occasionally two menu items if I'm quick, but then the counter freezes and the keyboard stops responding - the system seems frozen. I did not change anything in BIOS before or after moving the PC for cleaning. I did not attempt to use the GRUB menu recently before the cleaning or after re-setting it up until today so I am not sure if the issue existed before servicing or immediately after, or some time after. If I let it boot without attempting to interact with GRUB, it boots OK and the keyboard is responsive.

Things I have tried:

• I have more than one bootable drive and these symptoms persist regardless of which drive I select.
• I have used two different keyboards (one wired, one wireless) and different USB ports.
• I have updated GRUB and re-installed it to my main boot drive.
• I have checked the BIOS settings regarding USB and toggled xHCI handoff.

In summary; regardless of what keyboard, what USB port, what drive I boot to, and the only relevant BIOS setting I use - I cannot access the GRUB menu.

Next I will try booting to a USB stick and then removing everything I can from the USB ports except the keyboard.

If anyone has other suggestions or insights into what may be causing this, I'd love to hear it.

[Snowhog]

I’m sure it goes without saying, but try discharging any static on you before touching the peripherals.

[Qqmike]

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1355...isabled-out-of

I did NOT have time to study it, only to kind of skim read it for now.
But ... it does suggest that this can be an issue -- you are not alone.
He does find his solution, too, btw.
Maybe some ideas there?

[Qqmike]

Google: "I can't touch the keyboard while GRUB is booting" -- there are some hits maybe to look at.
(At the moment, I'm being pulled in several directions and can't really focus like I need to, but it seems solvable.)

[oshunluvr]

Since the OP I've booted to a KDEneon LiveUSB session - same version of GRUB - grub menu works fine.

I also let it sit for a couple hours to see if it was just real slow but it remained frozen.

I've googled but haven't found any answers that work.

[oshunluvr]

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1355...isabled-out-of

I did NOT have time to study it, only to kind of skim read it for now.
But ... it does suggest that this can be an issue -- you are not alone.
He does find his solution, too, btw.
Maybe some ideas there?

I'm not using UEFI or any sort of "fastboot".

[Snowhog]

To be clear, when you said 'touch the keyboard', you didn't literally mean 'touch the keyboard'; you meant 'use the keyboard'; type on it. Yes?

You also said

I can move the menu selection with the down arrow one or occasionally two menu items if I'm quick, but then the counter freezes and the keyboard stops responding - the system seems frozen.

That sounds a lot like the problem I first reported concerning my changing the Grub menu_timeout setting to anything other than its default of 0, back when KDEneon first started using a customized grub theme. Does that trigger a memory? See https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...timeout-values

[oshunluvr]

I unplugged everything from the USB connections, including two USB hubs, plugged in only a wired USB keyboard to a USB 2 port and booted to nvme0n1 and it booted. I was able to change the selection in the GRUB menu even though I hadn't been able to before unplugging everything. As a precaution, I reinstalled GRUB to that drive.

I rebooted and selected my previous grub install that is on nvme1n1 and it booted normally and GRUB menus worked there again also. I then re-installed GRUB to that drive.

When I rebooted this time, it booted to nvme0n1 again by itself even though nvme1n1 is first in the BIOS boot drive list. I booted into BIOS and looked at the drive boot order and nvme3n1, sata1 and sata2 were in different positions in the BIOS than before but nvme0n1 and 1n1 were both in the correct order - nvme1n1 is first and nvme0n1 is second. nvme3n1 was was in position 6 instead of 4 and the two sata drives were 4 and 5 instead of 5 and 6. I have no idea how or why they were rearranged.

I reordered drives 4, 5, and 6 back to my preferred order in the list which and powered down. Then I re-attached ALL the USB devices assuming one of them was the culprit and I would remove them one at a time and reboot until I found which was the problem.

It booted up normally and GRUB menu worked without issue.

I think the issue was caused by one of these:

1. BIOS shenanigans
2. The GRUB first stage being corrupted
3. A USB device plugged into a port it couldn't communicate with, as in USB 2 vs. 3, 3.1, and 3.2 (I have all of these).

I don't think it's #1 because I suspect when I was fiddling around and constantly rebooting, the BIOS must have gone to an alternate boot device. It might be detecting a series of reboots as a boot device issue and go through the list looking for a bootable device. I suspect the re-ordering is probably a side effect of this action.

#2 seems possible EXCEPT that two different drives - nvme0n1 and nvme1n1 - both had the same symptoms. It seems very unlikely that the GRUB stage 1 was corrupted on two drives simultaneously. This is precisely why I keep more than one drive bootable.

So that leaves #3. I did unplug all the USB cables when I moved the computer from the floor under my desk to the work bench for cleaning and re-working of a water pipe. I did not pay close attention to what was plugged in where on the back panel ports. I have 6 things plugged in back there. I assume I did not initially get all the devices back into their original ports. When I re-plugged them in this time, I paid closer attention and only plugged USB 3 devices into the USB 3.2 ports. This might also explain what I felt like was a longer time between pushing the power button and seeing the initial GRUB menu than before the service.

Regardless, it this moment both GRUB menus are working as expected.