Mac Mini refuses any boot keyboard commands

Mac Mini model MB139LL/A
I cannot get my Mac Mini to do anything other than boot from the harddrive!
ANY key combination I hold, boot from cd, bring up boot menu, perform a system test, etc etc is ignored, it just keeps booting until it brings up the login screen for OSX.
Not even holding down the left mouse button works!
I tried both restarting, and shutting down and then powering back up.
I tried holding the key before I turn it on and right after it turns on.
Nothing.
This is getting frustrating, any idea why it is ignoring me?

Boece wrote:
To improve your chances of success ...
be sure the keyboard is directly connected to a usb port on the back of the Mini
Its plugged in directly into the back of the Mac Mini.
Boece wrote:
hold down the C key as soon as you hear the startup chime or beep - and keep holding it down until you see the "gear" spinning on the screen
Didn't work. As soon as the startup chime played I held down C the entire time until the OSX login screen appeared, which clearly means it has gone too far.
Boece wrote:
If your Mini has an Apple Remote, another workaround is to hold down the Menu button on the remote at startup. This works the same as holding down the Option/Alt key.
Huh, I had no idea you could use the remote too, that worked perfectly, though it assumed my CD was Windows.
Odd though..... I could only move my mouse up and down in this menu, not left or right.
Ubuntu wasn't recognizing my keyboard or mouse in the "choose your language" screen either, but after the timer ran out and it picked the default language of English it booted up fine with my KB and Mouse working. I guess that is a discussion for the Ubuntu forums though.
Thanks
Is there a guide anywhere on everything you can do on boot-time with the remote? Or is the menu button it?

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OK, just found the answer while browsing the "more like this" answers that appeared after I posted my question.
I wasn't aware that the new Apple Aluminium Keyboard doesn't play nice with the Mini and that the Mini doesn't recognize this particular keyboard in time for the boot sequence.
Thank you for these helpful discussions:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9306774#9306774
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9084810?messageID=9084810
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1477855?threadID=1477855&tstart=0
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Message was edited by: Yijian Cao

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Mac Mini refuses any boot keyboard commands

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