Resolved USB keyboard doesn't work when F8 pressed

Recently while attempting to track down a problem I pressed the F8 key during the boot process and the screen requesting if I wanted Windows (Safe) to load normally or COMMAND PROMPT etc was displayed (as expected) but my USB keyboard would not work to allow me to use the arrow keys to navigate this screen. I believe this is because the Windows USB drivers had not been loaded.
The only way I could navigate this screen was to plug in an old non usb keyboard.
Is this correct or is there a way of using a usb keyboard when attempting to do a 'safe' Windows reboot?

 

Thanks for the quick reply and sorry for not replying earlier as I have been out of town.

I have a reasonably new m/b (Gigabyte GA-EG41MF-US2H) which is about 2 years old now.
I checked the BIOS settings for legacy usb mouse and keyboard and set them to ENABLED. That didn't make a lot of difference.

Since then I decided to reformat and reinstall Windows (XP) and came across another problem which really made it very difficult to install XP. I did the rebuild for another reason not this one.

During the windows install I could not navigate the screens (using usb mouse - I was still using the non usb keyboard so was able to select the defaults) during installation.
I eventually got Windows installed (could not select my preferences such as keyboard language, create other users etc).
My usb mouse and keyboard still would not operate when Windows had started up. In the end I found that by unplugging them and plugging them back in Windows then recognized new hardware and installed the appropriate drivers.

Now my FINAL QUESTION - why didn't Windows recognize the usb mouse and keyboard when Windows installation did an automatic scan for hardware during installation? How can I prevent this problem occurring again if I need to rebuilt my system? If I remember correctly this same problem occurred when I initially built my PC 2 years ago.

Thanks in advance.