does your /etc/menu.lst file contain a splashimage=(hd0,)/grub/default-splash.xpm.gz entry?
If so, when disabling that line, does your problem remain? This may be a duplicate of bug #31743 -- grub does not respond to ESC https://launchpad.net/bugs/63969 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
