Strange issue. Can’t get codes. Error msg only

Have you tried unhooking the 12v for a bit?

 

Sorry - that's the best I got

 

Did you check the fuses in the box under the hood?

Did you check the little fuse (I think it's 5 A or less) back at the 12 V battery? I'm pretty sure this is just a "sense" wire for the DC-DC converter, and I don't know that it would keep the car from starting, but it's easy to check.

You might try taking it out of Park, all the way to B, back to Park, back to B, back to Park, a couple of times. Put it in Park with verve and elan, and then try to start it again.

Rationale: Every once in a while, I'll drive my 2001 home and stop at my house. I put it in what feels like Park, and the P gets a ring around it on the dash display, and I'll be sitting there listening to the radio or something. Then, the shift lever will slip just a millimeter or two further forwards, and then the engine will start up. It's almost like the dash display and the engine have slightly different ideas of where "Park" is. I've also seen the PRNDL switch get slightly cranky on regular ICE cars, to where the lever was in Park but the starter wouldn't run with the ignition key. Shifting out of and back into Park fixed it.

Did you try jump-starting it from another car, or at least another 12 volt battery? Or, check the voltage at the terminals of the 12 V battery while you try to start the car?

Rationale: I haven't ever had the thing you describe, with the bars on the gas gauge flashing, but I know that a low 12 V battery is reportedly the cause of much random behavior. I do know that the DC-DC converter can keep the 12 V system up, even if your 12 V battery is really shot. I've had a 12 V battery so bad that when I turned the key to "start", all the dash displays went dim and then dark, and the car didn't go Ready. Once I jumped the 12 V battery with another battery and started the car, I could instantly disconnect the jumper cables and the car would keep running just fine.

In my experience, it doesn't take much to jump-start the 12 V battery. I have used an old 12 volt "garden tractor" flooded battery before, and even a 12 volt 7 Ah AGM battery - the kind that gets used in computer UPSes, and emergency lights, EXIT signs, and alarm systems in buildings. The AGM battery was easier to carry in the car. I don't know if I recommend this, but I bungee-corded the garden tractor battery to about a 2 foot square piece of plywood and kept it in the trunk, with the plastic covers over the terminals, and jump-started myself for a few days, until I could get a new 12 V battery to actually install.

Good luck!