i just compiled a kernel and everything booted fine. But when the details were being displayed of the boot kudzu started up and said to hit a button to continue or in 30 seconds normal boot will happen. But i can't hit a key cuz my keyboard is not recognized so i get to the login screen which doesn't help when i can't type. Is there some generic keyboard driver i might have forgotten to compile into the kernel or something? Im not sure of the exact model or hwo to find that out about the keyboard but it is a compaq keyboard with a smart card terminal that came with the compaq presario 7110US. Can i possible fix it by patching the kernel or will i need to scrap it and start over again? thanks for any help in advanced.

edit: i should note it is a usb keyboard. Im switching which port it is plugged into and trying again.

edit: switching ports had no affect.

I ran into this problem with a 2.6.10 kernel and never could figure it out. However, I just compilied a 2.6.11.9 and the keyboard works fine. As far as I can tell, the configs are the same.

i forgot to mention my kernel version. The version i compiled was 2.6.11.10

If it is a USB keyboard, are you sure that you have USB support compiled correctly? Also, do you have a non-USB keyboard available so you can check if the system ever sees the USB keyboard?

well i am able to boot into the kernel with a ps/2 keyboard. Kudzu did come up still and it did mention the Compaq Computer Corp. Internet Keyboard. (it has a credit card terminal as well) Now i have a few questions. When you configure the the kernel where does the config file go as default. I want to check it to see what i did incorrectly (more likely post the usb section here cuz i didn't know i did it incorrectly the first time. lol) Or is there some file, like in /proc i could post that would show how my usb is set up? I'd just keep the ps/2 keyboard and use that but it belongs to my sister's keyboard and was just borrowing it to trouble shoot. thanks for any replies in advance.

i downloaded new kernel source so i could look thru the usb configuration options. I don't see anything that mentions keyboards specificly. I see one for HIDs Human Interface Devices which sounds like it could refer to a keyboard to me but by default it is built into the kernel and when i configured my kernel i only added options didn't take away stuff.

If you are just configuring the kernel, you can find the config file in the kernel source directory (and it is name .config so it doesn't show up on a normal ls, use ls -a).

If you can boot using the ps/2 keyboard, plug your usb keyboard in and see if the system recognizes it. You should see something in the output of dmesg or in /var/log/messages showing that the USB system has recognized it.

Also, have a look at this how-to that describes how to configure a kernel for USB keyboard support.

thanks for the howto. I can find the first option they talk about for usb HID full support in the usb section. they say to enable keyboard support in input core support section. I don't see that section but i see a section entitled input device support which im presuming to be the same thing. However in this section i don't see an option for my specific keyboard, usb keyboard option, or a generic keyboard option. Also they say to make sure that USB HIDBP Keyboard support is not enable. I can't find the option to see if it is enabled or not. Has that option become obsolete so it is no longer including in the options? i appreciate your help so far. thanks again.

D'OH.........

Sorry, I wasn't reading your original post closely enough. You're having trouble using your keyboard in GRUB. Sorry, we might be mucking about in the wrong area. If I'm reading the various stuff from googling correctly, you need to do some hunting around your BIOS to see if there is anything related to keyboard support and enable it (it might not be in a USB section, it might be in a plug&play section). This is one of those things that either your BIOS supports or it doesn't. If it doesn't, it might be a good idea to see if you computer manufacturer has an upgrade.

take a look at usb modules which is the key for usb supporting with the command lsmod. or you can simply attempt to load a usb storge instead to see whether there be the effect occured.

actually i was able to use the keyboard in grub to select the kernel. It isn't until after the kernel is loaded. I can actually get to the login screen but can't type to log in. Interestingly enough my usb drive works fine with this kernel.

here is the output of /sbin/lsmod

Module Size Used by
snd_ens1371 18016 3
snd_rawmidi 18208 1 snd_ens1371
snd_seq_device 6924 1 snd_rawmidi
snd_ac97_codec 63480 1 snd_ens1371
snd_pcm 70536 2 snd_ens1371,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 18692 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 7428 1 snd_pcm
gameport 3712 1 snd_ens1371
parport_pc 22980 1
lp 9288 0
parport 28744 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 14084 0
sunrpc 110788 1
8139too 19328 0
mii 3968 1 8139too
ipt_REJECT 5376 1
ipt_state 1920 7
ip_conntrack 34200 1 ipt_state
iptable_filter 2560 1
ip_tables 17920 3 ipt_REJECT,ipt_state,iptable_filter
binfmt_misc 8456 1
floppy 50256 0
dm_mod 45180 0
uhci_hcd 25872 0
video 13956 0
button 5136 0
battery 7684 0
ac 3588 0
ipv6 203264 8

thanks for your help.