[NeoDuck]

you've tried different ports, for both the usb stick and whatever keyboard you have connected? some USB keyboards can cause issues with USB detection, so try booting without it connected and see if you get the ESC prompt then - will tell you if that's the problem 

 Yes, I did try all 3 of the free ports.  No success.  

I just tried removed the USB keyboard and the Chromebox didn't show the ESC prompt?  It just booted straight into Kodi.

What should we try next?

UPDATE:

I tried some more things.  All 4 USB ports were empty, I even removed the keyboard.  I rebooted by unplugging the power cable.  Here's what I tried:

• Formatting a USB stick in exFAT = FAIL
  
• Formatting a USB stick in NTSF = FAIL
  
• Formatting a portable USB Drive in exFAT = FAIL
  
• Formatting a portable USB Drive in NTFS = FAIL
  

Tested in all 4 USB ports.