Hi,
I have a strange problem that is defeating me.
I'd like to get comments before I junk the computer.
The problematic computer is an AMD64 pc with 8Gb memory.
I recently installed Slackware 15.
It's been working well till today.
Now, when booting, at the login prompt, the keyboard is unresponsive.
Great frustration but maybe I can just reinstall Slackware.
But no. When the DVD I used for the installation gets to the initial login prompt, again the keyboard is unresponsive.
But the keyboard itself is not dead; it functions quite properly in the bios setup.
So I tried a Debian Buster live DVD. And that works!!
I may just reinstall Debian on it.

Any ideas?

Maybe tell us what keyboard layout you chose?

What type of kb is it? make and model.
If its a laptop, make and model?

Is it an usb connected to PS2 adapters to PC PS2?

2) if a live product works like Debian....you should be able to view the /var/log/messages on internal drive to see what happened

Thanks for the very prompt reply!!

The keyboard is a logitech USB to USB on box.
It's not a laptop.
Looking at the last bit of /var/log/messages:
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 26.768729] input: HDA Intel PCH Front Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input15
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 27.787652] r8169 0000:04:00.0: Direct firmware load for rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw failed with error -2
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 27.788187] RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet r8169-0-400:00: attached PHY driver [RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet] (mii_bushy_addr=r8169-0-400:00, irq=IGNORE)
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 27.859464] r8169 0000:04:00.0 enp4s0: Link is Down
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 29.432879] r8169 0000:04:00.0 enp4s0: Link is Up - 100Mbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
Jul 3 19:49:24 localhost kernel: [ 29.432890] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): enp4s0: link becomes ready

I have noticed warnings about the rtl_nic on bootup on debian but have not worried as it always seems to work OK.

I have seen this problem on 3 of my machines. My Acer laptop is pure intel, home desktops are AMD + Nvidia and an older Dell Intel cpu + Nvidia video.

Try a Ctrl + Alt + backspace whe the keyboard is locked out. That gets all mine working, they work normally after that, until shutdown, and a cold boot. Sometime things work as expected on a boot, but not always.

For me its a minor irritation I havn't found a fix yet.

Thanks for your replies.
I've given up on this issue and reinstalled Debian on the recalcitrant machine.
It seems to go OK.
I conclude that there is some intermittent fault the affects Slackware and not Debian.
/var/log/massages does give indication of a problem but it doesn't seem to me relevant:
Jul 6 17:26:48 Lionel kernel: [ 8.489044] r8169 0000:04:00.0: Direct firmware load for rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw failed with error -2
Strange problem,though.