Like I said before, settle down.
elton-w wrote:What that Boot Manager has done is the equivalent of a computer hijack: i cannot get INTO the machine, nor into it's internals ...short of physically taking the machine apart!
This is, of course, complete rubbish - a overreaction caused by your panic, which is not at all justified.
Think about it. You use the keyboard (when it's working) to signal to the machine that you want to enter Setup. No driver(s) necessary because you're not in any operating system; you're working with the BIOS.
So, if the keyboard isn't working to tell the machine that you want to enter Setup, then that has absolutely nothing to do with Debian, or grub. The problem is happening before grub is loaded. Of course, the fact that grub does load and displays on the screen, means that it is working, at least up to that point.
Now, go back to when everything does work the way it should. When the grub menu screen displays you have (usually) 5 seconds to make a choice, before it goes ahead with the default option, which is usually the first entry. Now, if you press any key (except Enter) during that 5 second period the countdown stops. That is what is happening - grub is getting a keystroke signal so is going in to 'wait for your input/decision" mode. As to before grub loads, a key (or keys) is/are sending a constant stream of whatever key it is. That is interrupting any keys that you 're pressing to try to get in to Setup.
Physically the cap may be stuck, although it sounds like you've checked this and ruled it out. Underneath, however, is a plastic membrane that has miniature switches embedded in to it. These can be damaged or they can simply fail. As I said before, not that uncommon with HP notebooks.
The solution is to get a new keyboard. Not that difficult to install if you follow the instructions.
to the details, so as to properly evaluate and comprehend what's NOT happening
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