I tried this safe mode on a Soyo G668 (P1688S) phone but whatever I do, pressing * during boot would only show Page0 on display (or would get stuck with two bars and a * showing on display). I could not connect through palmtool nor the boot process endend letting my press the local IP button to check if it got 192.168.1.100 with the "Page0" message
Tested with SIP firmwares 1.49 and 1.68
To whoever wanna try this, turn power on and press * once within 2 seconds (before the booting bars appear). If you are too slow, just power off and try again.