Hello all this is my first post.

I'm trying to solve a problem with my girlfriends 2000 Mitsubishi Mirage.

She was driving along and the car quit. Tried to restart it, turns over real well but does not start. Towed it home.

Did some checking and diagnosing. The timing belt is fine, the crank shaft sensor checks out fine with a multimeter. Tested the coils and its not getting a spark at either coil. Tested this with a spark plug tester. I haven't found a good way to test the camshaft sensor or ignition misfire sensor (Also know as the ignition failure sensor). Fuel Pump is working fine.

Had a mechanic friend come by and check it with a scanner but there were no codes present that should lead to a no start situation. Had P0421 which is warm up catalyst efficiency below threshold cylinders 1-4, P0400 which is an egr system fault, and P0301 misfire detected cylinder number 1. All of these codes were present when the car was running before this happened.

He cleared the codes with his scanner and tried to turn the car over several times to see if it would throw a code to lead us to the problem but no codes came up. After trying for a while to get it to start he notice that the service engine soon light was not staying lite the whole time while trying to start the car, it was now staying on about 2 to 5 seconds and then going off even though the car was not started yet. It was not doing this earlier in the day when we were trying different things, it wold stay lite the whole time since the car was not running.

Because the service engine soon light was going out before the car was running this lead him to believe the computer was bad. So I order a computer off of eBay from a reputable dealer. Made sure the numbers matched.

Put the new computer in and nothing has changed car still won't start at all and the service engine soon light is still going off about 2 to 5 seconds after the key is turned on.

The problem is I can't get a straight answer out of a dealership about if this computer needs to be programmed for the car to start. One dealership said no this year does not need to be programmed at all. Another said maybe but the car should start and run for a little while if the computer was the problem and needs to be programmed. Another said it only needs to be programmed to pass emission so it doesn't read the used car it came from information.

Does anyone know for sure with matching numbers if this computer would have to be programmed for the car to at least start? Any ideas on what could keep the car from starting if it turns out it is not the computer? I don't want to waste $120 to have the computer programmed and that does not solve the problem.

Thanks for any help.