Not able to access safe mode via f8

so im new to this blue screen of death b.s. but heres the story... one day my computer shut down for unknown reasons.. i hit the power button and everything started normal until the blue screen of death came up. so i shut the computer down hoping to run safe mode. but f8 isn't doing anything. so my question is; is there another way o getting into safe mode from the boot screen. im running a gateway with vista 64-bit.
btw im not a comeplete retard ha i pressed f8 in one second intervals and its as if safe mode and the option screen f8 normally brings up, dosent exsist.

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

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Just a quick question, to get it out of the way - this isn't a laptop with an F-lock key, is it?

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