help with ps2 port

hi and thanks for reading...

i have an older system which may have a failed ps2 port. if i unplug the
keyboard at boot i get no failure message. also, one of the keys is the
'y' key and this fails in bios mode answering prompts. the keyboard is new
(~4 weeks, micro innovations) as this happened before (microsoft natural)
and happens in windows and linux. could the ps2 port be damaging my
keyboards? how can i test the port? is the keyboard conroller on the
motherboard or if i buy a usb keyboard will it work? sorry for the text
but typing on the faulty keyboard using a character select utility! the
mouse ps2 port works. any ideas much appreciated as i hope to keep this
system a bit longer.

thanks,
rich