Win7 suddenly starts off with blue-screen boot manager

First of all, my laptop has 2 working USB ports.
I don't like typing with the built-in keyboard (and the touchpad) so I always connect a USB keyboard and mouse.

Yesterday (11-Aug), I unplugged the keyboard to use my USB HDD (to transfer files).
When I clicked the Windows ribbon, suddenly square-brackets were typed in non-stop, as if the physical key was held down.
I had to log it off and restart the computer (after safely removed the USB HDD).

Then, in the start-up screen where it used to display 'Press <F2 > to enter SETUP' now changed to 'Prepare to boot OS'.
This automatically proceeds to the blue-background Boot Manager (that's what it only says at the top) which has the following choices (simplified):
1. boot via HDD (the local C with the OS)
2. boot via CD/DVD
3. network boot

There's no timeout here, so I picked HDD booting, which now boots into the Windows Logo as it would normally.
After logging in, no other keys (both built-in and USB keyboard) respond except the built-in keyboard Windows key.
Once I pressed that, the problem (square brackets) disappears, for the current session.

The above change in booting also renamed the booting OS from 'Windows 7 Ultimate' to 'Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)'.
The following are copied from the EasyBCD program:

.

There is one entry in the Windows bootloader.
Default: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Timeout: 30 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: C:\Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {default}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

.

(detailed)
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {60cf4161-dd9c-11e0-8d39-8519be16c433}
resumeobject {881221ce-4e52-11e1-845e-806e6f6e6963}
displayorder {60cf4161-dd9c-11e0-8d39-8519be16c433}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {60cf4161-dd9c-11e0-8d39-8519be16c433}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
locale en-US
recoverysequence {60cf415f-dd9c-11e0-8d39-8519be16c433}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {881221ce-4e52-11e1-845e-806e6f6e6963}


.


I'm thinking (in the future) of making a bootable USB using the EasyBCD to do the System Repair (I don't even know if that'll fix it), but I wonder what causes all of this.


(additional info)
Also, when I set to Skip the Boot via EasyBCD, the Boot Manager still persists.
And if I added a new Win7 boot entry (making it default and moved it up), skipping the boot will hang at the Windows Logo screen (but without the logo), along with non-stop beepings.
Luckily, after spamming DOWN arrowkey, I managed to boot normally and reverted the EasyBCD changes.
For now, I'll have to put up with the annoying booting than mess up the computer making it worse.

Today (14-Aug), I found out that the squarebracket problem reappears within the same log session.
I also just realised that the physical key of the opening square bracket (and inevitably, the curly one) doesn't work at all.
The last time I used the laptop keyboard was about a year ago, and without any issue.
I had to psuedo-disable the key with AutoHotKey, and put it in the Start folder:

Code:

#SingleInstance force
#NoEnv
SetBatchLines -1
ListLines Off

[::return

I just couldn't find any explanation as to why pressing the Windows key of the laptop works (albeit, temporarily).

I think the auto-spam of the bracket during booting might be the cause of the booting issue.
Or perhaps, it's a completely independent issue.


I forgot to mention in the first post that I also did the sfc/ SCANNOW which results in no integrity issue.
I did it again today to make sure.

SIW2 said:

Can you post a screenshot of this?

Using the PrtSc key? Is that possible at the boot screen? I'll try tomorrow.

I found a similar screenshot (mine has HDD as #1, and of course, the blue background):
Looks like he has the same booting issue as me.

How to remove Boot Manager from windows startup

- - - Updated - - -

Forgive me, it's actually the exact same boot screen (white-blue Boot Manager as opposed to black-white Windows Boot Manager)