[SOLVED] Keyboard Not Working in LM17.3 GRUB

[julianvb]

2018-06-18

Ever since I recently installed LM17.3 MATE alongside LM18.3 MATE, I cannot change the boot-up order. In other words, the system's GRUB menu may appear but it remains inaccessible to the keyboard and only LM17.3 gets booted up. I suspect that something is blocking GRUB from communicating with the keyboard.

How can I fix this problem? Is it advisable to reinstall GRUB? Thanks very much to you all in advance.

Julianvb

[all41]

Try:
In a terminal:

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sudo os-prober

It should show both releases

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sudo update-grub

then restart and see if grub is useable

[julianvb]

all41,
Thanks very much. I rebooted my system after entering your suggested commands and the boot-up status remains unchanged.
Julianvb

[all41]

Normally when the grub screen appears the up/down arrow buttons toggle among the choices.
Any keyboard presses should halt the time out countdown indefinitely till a choice is made.
When the grub screen appears in your system evidently 17.3 is highlighted? Try pressing the keyboard key e
That should enter the edit mode. Does that happen? Just wondering if your keyboard is active
Say more about your hardware--is this perhaps a wireless kb/mouse

[julianvb]

Normally when the grub screen appears the up/down arrow buttons toggle among the choices.
Any keyboard presses should halt the time out countdown indefinitely till a choice is made.
When the grub screen appears in your system evidently 17.3 is highlighted? Try pressing the keyboard key e
That should enter the edit mode. Does that happen? Just wondering if your keyboard is active
Say more about your hardware--is this perhaps a wireless kb/mouse

Yes, I agree. My LM17.3 GRUB Menu appears totally cut off from the keyboard and therefore all keyboard entries prove ineffective. Linux Mint 17.3 is always highlighted in the GRUB menu. I am using a reliable regular wired Dell keyboard.

Julianvb

[all41]

Just for testing purposes try the keyboard in a different usb port.

[julianvb]

all41,
Thanks for the new suggestion. My keyboard is now connected to another usb port and the GRUB menu remains unresponsive as before. In other words, the keyboard and the GRUB menu remain cut off from each other. I suspect that something is blocking the menu from communicating with the keyboard.
Julianvb

[julianvb]

2018-06-23

I've just made a change to /etc/default/grub so that GRUB_DEFAULT=0 becomes GRUB_DEFAULT=5 to tell GRUB to boot from LM!18.3 instead of LM17.3. I next ran the following commands to update /boot/grub/grub.cfg

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sudo update-grub

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sudo reboot

Now Line 5 in the boot-up menu instead of Line 0 is high-lighted as the default OS and LM18.3 boots up automatically.

Julianvb

[all41]

Hi again @Julianvb,
Good news
Are you able to navigate within the new grub screen?

[julianvb]

Hi, all41,

I apologize for rejoicing too soon. It's true that I can now boot up LM18.3 but the boot menu remains inaccessible to the keyboard as before. It seems that the grub files of both LM17.3 and LM18.3 are malfunctioning identically. I admit that I'm confused.

Could there be something wrong with my BIOS? On the other hand, the boot menu of my LM18.3-WinXP machine is perfectly navigable.

Julianvb

[MrEen]

Could there be something wrong with my BIOS?

A couple of thoughts:
Check in your BIOS if "Legacy USB" is enabled or not.
Could you pull the CMOS battery to reset the BIOS?
Have you tried the top left USB port on the back of the computer? Some motherboards give priority to that port.

[julianvb]

Hi, MrEen,
Thanks very much for your kind suggestions. I'll definitely put them to work as soon as I get a chance and report back.
Julianvb

[MrEen]

Upon further reflection, the first option is probably useless unless you can get to your BIOS without the keyboard.

[julianvb]

Hi, MrEen,
I've tried out your 2nd and 3rd suggestions and my status remains unchanged. I even installed an new CR2032 battery. I didn't see any Enterprise USB mentioned in my BIOS. Thanks very much.
Julianvb

[MrEen]

Hi, MrEen,
I've tried out your 2nd and 3rd suggestions and my status remains unchanged. I even installed an new CR2032 battery. I didn't see any Enterprise USB mentioned in my BIOS. Thanks very much.
Julianvb

Just so anyone else can understand what's happening, you're saying you can get to your BIOS (via a keypress) during bootup, but once the GRUB screen is up, the keyboard is no longer functioning until it has booted the default OS?

The entry in BIOS might say Legacy USB Devices (that should be enabled.)

[julianvb]

Yes.

The entry in BIOS might say Legacy USB Devices (that should be enabled.)

I meant Legacy USB not being mentioned anywhere in the BIOS.

Since I no longer have any urgent need for LM17.3, can you suggest a simple safe way to delete it from my LM18.3-LM17.3 machine? Thanks.

Julianvb

[MrEen]

Since I have no longer have any urgent need for LM17.3, can you suggest a simple safe way to delete it from my LM18.3-LM17.3 machine? Thanks.

Julianvb

So far I've done 2 installs and 0 uninstalls. We should wait for someone else to answer that.

[julianvb]

Hi, Everyone,

Thanks for your help and patience. I've just received an excellent explanation of my problem and a solution from michaelk of www.linuxquestions.org. Recently I inadvertently started using USB keyboards instead of PS?2 ones when I attempted to solve certain software problems. Since Linux Mint 18.3 doesn't come with USB keyboard drivers pre-installed, neither GRUB nor Memtest86+ can communicate with a USB keyboard. That's why both GRUB and Memetest86+ appeared totally indifferent to any keyboard commands.

As all my computers come with a PS/2 keyboard port, everything works beautifully as soon as I replace the USB keyboard with a PS/2 one .

Julianvb