XP Boots, But PCLinusOS would not

[wteo]

A little Background
'm new to this forum and also relatively new to Linux. I'm a Windows person who wants to migrates to Linux! I've successfully installed Ubuntu on my 1st machine and a few others, but I failed miserably on my 2nd machine. Both are new built (Intel E6750, Gigabyte mobo, etc).
I've tried other distro and they all end up the same way with one minor exception. Either both XP and Linux would not boot at all, or one will boot but not the other.

The current installation: XP works but no PCLinux - gnome 2.21.2. At the menu screen, the arrow keys are imbolized; only XP (default) works. I've gone through a dozen times with the same result. (boot to cd-drive or hd makes no difference.)
I've no problem with liveCD. It works all the time with almost any distro. I've changed HD, reformatted, reinstalled XP, etc. To no avail.

I can access PCLOS even now if I boot with the liveCD. I just don't know where to begin and what information is relevant but I'm determined to have Linux installed on both PCs. Here is what I am able to find with the help of LiveCD.

The two drives (both SATA) set up looks like this:

Disk 0
C:\first partition is XP\
D:\data for XP
Unallocated space of about 50GB for Linux

Disk 1
a single partition of 320GB for xp
DVD-Drive

At time of installation, these files were created:
Linux (boot/vmlinuz)*
Linux-nonfb (boot/vmlinuz)
Windows (/dev/sda1)

Linux Locations:
/dev/sdb
/dev/sda6 [I select to install Linux here]
/dev/sda7 swap
/dev/sda8 var.

With the help of liveCD, this is that the menu.lst shows:

title linux
kernel (hd0,5) /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root= /dev/sda6
acpi=on resume=/deve/sda7 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initred.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=/dev/sda6
acpi=on resume=/dev/sda7
initrd (ha0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=/dev/sda6
failsafe acpi=on resume=/dev/sda7
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader+1

At time of installation, I change the default boot to XP. If I leave it at Linux, then XP would not boot!

I've tried to use several rescue discs, they all fail in that all key functions (except XP) are frozen!

What can be done? Remember, I've only 6 months' experience with Ubuntu.

I would be most grateful to you for helping me solve this problem. If I've left out other relevant information, it is out of ignorance and is not intentional.

Thank you very kindly for sharing your time and expertise.

Wes

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Toggle Legacy USB Support in BIOS.

[wteo]

Thanks, a million, devil_casper!!
You're absolutely brilliant. You solved my problem which I had been enduring for more than 4 months with one sentence!!!

I enabled USB keyboard, USB mouse, USB legacy storage.
I tried USB legacy first, by itself, but it did no good.
Must I enabled BOTH USB keyboard and Mouse? or just one?

Again, thank you a million for your genius!

Wes