What I originally though was a GRUB-specific problem with a thunderbolt dock I have, I have realized is a general problem with specific USB peripherals with bootloaders on my computer.

Hardware/Software

• Computer: HP Spectre x360 13t, Late 2019
• OS: Any OS (bootloader issue)
• BIOS: AMI F.13, 3/2/2020. UEFI mode (legacy does not appear to be supported)
• Bootloader: Either GRUB 2 or rEFInd (0.12.0)
• Peripherals which cause the problem: HP Keyboard (SK-2085), Logitech Mouse (G203 Prodigy), macally ikey4 (old keyboard)
• Peripherals which do not cause the problem: Apple Mouse (A1152), Cable Matters Thunderbolt Dock (107014), RSHTECH USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure, U-PHORIA UM2 USB 2 Instrument ADC, PCI-e NVMe SSD Enclosure (USB 3.1)

Issue Reproduction

1. Install rEFInd
2. Shut down computer
3. Plug in peripheral
4. Boot computer
5. rEFInd menu appears, hangs. Will not accept input from any source, even after unplugging/replugging peripherals.

Note: It is interesting that a hard reset (holding down the power button) does not appear to be required. The computer powers down as normal with a tap of the power button.

I have tried booting with secure boot active/inactive, which does not appear to do anything. I should note that I can still enter the BIOS by tapping F10 on the offending peripheral, provided I do so before the rEFInd menu appears.

It seems to me that this may be related to this issue, where a usb item with keyboard functionality causes the issue (notably, not limited to Logitech products). But seeing as I cannot enable legacy support on this machine's BIOS, I am unsure how to proceed.

Another related issue, this one is actually closer to my problem, but unfortunately the solution does not work with my BIOS.

Thank you very much in advance.

Update: This issue still has not gone away. If anyone has any leads to work with, please, let me know.

Update 2 (Oct 31, 2021): The issue persists.

I've been experiencing the same problem on a 2019 HP Spectre x360 13t, using basically any keyboard (I've tested with two different Logitech wireless keyboards, and a Steelseries Apex Pro). I found a not-ideal, but at least partial workaround: if during the boot process I hit ESC or F9 to get into the UEFI or boot menu, it is not frozen. If I then wait a few seconds for the keyboard/firmware to finish whatever it is doing and continue the boot like normal, GRUB starts up perfectly happy.

This makes me think it's really more a problem with the underlying firmware rather than the bootloaders, so I suspect you'll see the same behavior in rEFInd? Might be useful to know though. Either way I guess maybe we should report this to HP as a firmware problem.