986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - boxster electronics acting erradically

So i bought a 2002 base boxster as a gift to my mom a few months ago. recently she called me and said that she was out with the car but the key wouldnt turn the engine on. i had her replace the battery in the key fob but that didnt start the car. the key would rotate inside the cylinder and it would turn the radio and things on and off but when turned to the start position would cut all power but not engage the starter. luckily she was able to start it later that night and drive it home.

now the car is 1300 miles away from me so ive been relying on my baby brother to help me diagnose the problem. heres what he tells me.

he says sometimes the key will start the car sometimes it wont. he said also sometimes motors kick on and run for a short while. he says he hears the noise coming from the front of the car around the tire areas (he says it sounds like the secondary air motor noise his bmw makes when he first starts it up---so it seems to be an electric motor) and lastly he says the windows would act erractly sometimes working and stopping sometimes not working at all sometimes working perfectly.

i did some research and found out that the electronic ignition switch, when malfunctioning, can cause other electronics to act up as well. so i had him replace the electronic part. now the car starts everytime but the electronics are still acting up.

i had an old friend plug in his european scanner and the only code it gave was for a sensor for the passanger door airbag.

any ideas where i should start to look next?