When you were fighting with the ethernet cards, you were able to use
your keyboard to get ifconfig results, correct?

Do you have any idea what you might have changed to cause the keyboard to
stop working?

Have you tried getting a USB keyboard and plugging that in?  (Yes, the AT
type keyboard _should_ work, and I have no ideas to offer there.  But if
you have a USB port in the machine, you may find that it's less hassle to
switch to USB.  I should note that on my machine, if I have more than 1
USB device plugged in at boot-time, only the first seems to get
configured; I have to unplug/replug a second device (or, I assume, a
third, ...) to use other deivices.  (Or plug them in after booting...)

  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu