I'm Dumb, I have proof

[jdstrickland]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

Did the car battery die when the key was in the ignition? If it did...for some reason it has been observed that in some cases this will kill the key. I have no reason why, and have never heard why it happens...but I have seen this same story on e38, e39 & now e53 forum (?). And it has always been the new style (diamond shaped) remote key that has croaked when left in the ignition and the car battery dies.

No, the key was in my pocket. The car was parked on the street in front of my house and the alarm started sounding for no apparent reason. It stopped after a minute or two, whatever the normal length of time that it would sound. After the alarm went off, it made a chirp every so often, minute or so, kind of like the smoke alarm will chirp in your house when it needs a new battery.

After getting the jumper cables out and starting the car, I discovered that the buttons on the key would not lock or unlock the doors. This is a battery issue with the key, but it strikes me as a very strange coincidence that the car battery and the key battery would die at the same moment in time, and there was no advance warning of the impending doom.

In any case, I took the car to the shop because I have no further capability with the PA Soft. The shop says I have to buy a key, upon which time that key will talk to the EWS and allow a platform from which the other keys can be enabled again. If I could enable the keys that I have -- both are currently disabled -- then a crook could come along with a key that does not work and start PA Soft to enable it and drive the car away. An enabled key is required as an authentication source to enable other keys. Somehow, the dealership will provide an enabled key that can be used to authenticate the keys I have.