Microsoft Natural Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard 7000

Hi -

I purchased the above a while back (3 months or so) and it's been working
great but now it appears to have an issue on boot up. It has the 2.4Ghz
receiver that plugs into a USB port.

I have Vista and XP as a dual boot and ofter need to run XP. To do this I
need to scroll down in the boot screen and select it. Up to now this hasn't
been a problem.

The problem I am seeing is (as of yesterday evening) is that when I boot for
some reason when it hits the boot selection screen (standard Microsoft
Vista/XP one) the keyboard doesn't operate. I try pressing up/down, function
keys and nothigs registers.

Before if I hit DEL and go into the BIOS all is well and I can navigate
around using the cursor keys and once I get into Vista the keyboard appears
to work correctly. It's only on the boot selection screen when I want to
select XP that it appears to stop working (perhaps it's a ploy to stop me
using XP)!

I'm going to get some new batteries for the mouse and keyboard but I don't
see how that is going to solve this particular problem (the battery meter
for both mouse and k/b are fully green). I've tried re-syncing the k/b (and
mouse) all to no avail. I've even sat the keyboard in front of the receiver,
again no joy. I've tried out USB ports for the receiver.

There are other wireless devices around (router, other MS keyboards).
Perhaps I'll try and see if they will let me navigate (or take their
batteries out to take them out of the equation).

Interested to know if anyone else has had a similar problem or ideas on how
to fix it (as I'm fast running out)?

At present I've another wireless k/b that I also have connected which I use
to make the selection. Once made and in XP/Vista the problem k/b works
perfectly!!!

My m/b is running with the latest BIOS available (Abit AA8 Duramax).

TIA

- Andy