By chance I got hold of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (GT-P5100) running a quite ancient Android 4.0.4. It was infected by the GVU / BKA Trojan Horse. The usual tricks to bring the device into Safe Mode did not work, like
- http://skp.samsungcsportal.com/integrated/popup/FaqDetailPopup3.jsp?cdsite=ie&seq=898277
- http://www.usp-forum.de/artikel-ratgeber/3473-android-smartphone-abgesicherten-modus-bringen-so-geht-s.html
- http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-68372/
- https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131016050239AAIjFcX
Moreover, Google is also driving you nuts when searching for samsung “galaxy tab 2” 10.1 safe mode by reporting all kinds of variants to “push the menu button” – a button which does not exist neither physically nor is being shown during the boot phase as soft key.
Especially, the variant of tapping long on the “power off” line in the system menu does not work (simply, no popup is appearing). Some older forum posts hint you to push the “Volume down” button during the boot phase (in multiple variants); that one, however, brings you to the Firmware update screen…
In fact the following variant worked for me:
- Make sure that your tablet is powered down, by pressing the power button for at least two seconds. If that does not work, press it for a short time to lock the screen. Pressing it shortly again will bring you to the lock screen. There, long-press the power button again and you will succeed.
- Wait until the tablet vibrates to indicate that it is fully powered down.
- Normal-press the power button again to make it boot up again.
- Immediately afterwards, when the “Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.2” splash screen is indicated (if only “Samsung” is shown, you are too late), press and hold both the “Volume up” and the “Volume down” key until further notice.
- The tablet will complete the boot sequence as usual, and will fall into the lock screen.
- Once the lock screen is shown, you may release the two buttons, which you are still holding.
Once you unlock the lock screen, you will now be in safe mode, which is indicated by a corresponding label in the bottom left corner of the screen.
In my case the GVU / BKA Trojan horse was out of a system a couple of seconds later: Using the Settings menu, I could remove the app “Browser Update” easily. After powering off the tablet via the usual way, and restarting it, also the “Safe Mode” was gone again.