Battery recently went flat now the alarm keeps going off if i open a door or start it up.. have located the alarm box under the bonnet ,and turned off the sound, but still don't no how to reset the fob ?it lights up but does not send a signal to open the central locking or activate the alarm

It would seem that your car alarm may have a battery backup and operating a relay to operate the alarm. I would have expected it to keep sounding but it may be connected to your cars horn instead or have had its own "screamer" disconnected? If this happened after you removed the door panels, you may have inadvertently knocked a wire off one of the door switches and this keeps telling the alarm that one of the doors isn't closed or has been opened thus triggering the alarm to go off.. This is probably what flattened your battery..

On my 94 Sovereign there is a switch inside the centre console that will switch off the alarm, not sure about the 96. You could try locking all the doors. connect the jump leads and then unlock the doors (the bonnet switch for the alarm I think is the same one for the under bonnet light so you might have to tape it down whilst the bonnet is open, just to confuse the alarm )

Good luck

Really should diconnect he battery and charge it up for a day or so. Then give it a spin. Shd be OK. The low batery level is playing havoc with the security system sending false signals triggering various states of lay up mode.

Unfortunately, there is a trick to replacing the battery.
1) Open the Driver side door.
2) Open the Bonnet and take the battery cover off.
3) Use your remote to lock and unlock the car (keeping the driver side door open)
4) Pull the Negative Lead from the battery first, followed by the Positive Lead.
5) Change or replace with charged battery.
6) Closed down Bonnet.
7) Your windows, sunroof, and key FOB will not work... so follow the next steps.

7a) Insert your key, with door closed into the exterior lock on driver's side.
7b) While turning the key to lock the door, hold down the "lock" button on your remote for 5 seconds while in "lick" position
7c) Your remote will reset, and you should be able to use your remote now
7d) While driving, roll each window down twice. On your third attempt, you should only have to touch the window button, and the window will have reset

Enjoy your Rover!
MIke

Sounds like the battery went dead with the security system on. This means you cannot pull bonnet handle.

To release the bonnet, buy a male-2-male cigarette lighter cable at any auto part store. Connect the cable between the two cars. (WARNING: Do not try to start the car with this configuration.) Unlock the door with the key and the bonnet should open. Now you can service or jumper the battery.

Note: Some porsches also have a red pull-out jumper by the fuse box.

Sounds like a bad battery. Do not lock or unlock the doors until you verify the battery is good. If the alarm was on when the battery went dead, you may not be able to open the bonnet to jump the battery. The 1999 Boxster does not have a red jumper post on the fuse box. You may need to hook a male-to-male cigarette lighter between the car and another car. Do not try to start the car with the cigarette lighter connect. When charged, you should be able to reset the alarm and open the bonnet. You may will need to reset your radio when the battery is replaced: http://www.a2dvoices.com/realitycheck/porsche/

Not sure about a rest switch or what it is supposed to do but there could be other things wrong.

The security system brain needs to know the doors and bonnet are closed before it sets itself and it usually does that in a number of ways. Often there will be an ultrasonic device monitoring the interior and there is almost certainly switches buried in every door/bonnet/boot catch. In addition the battery voltage will be measured and monitored.

A neighbour had a Honda that also sounded the alarm after a couple of minutes. The cause was the switch in the bonnet or hood catch was faulty. When the doors were locked the security system thought the bonnet was left open or had just been opened after a couple of minutes.

A similar thing happens to various models when maladjusted doors damage the nylon anti-rattle covering of the striker plates effectively preventing the striker fully entering the catch where it could fail to trip the door closed switch.

A customer with a Peugeot also had alarm sounding after a couple of minutes. The battery started the engine ok but had a faulty cell so the terminal voltage fell fairly rapidly in the first few minutes after the engine was switched off and the doors locked. The brain interpreted it as somone opening a door without unlocking.

Hope that helps.

Could be a few things, firstly you have little switches on the inside of the door jams these are to put the inside lights on when you open the door, sometimes they stick in so the car thinks the door is open hence the alarm sounds off. You should be able to find them easy enough also check the boot/trunk its slightly different in the boot as it may have metal contacts. if these are not clean and connecting properly then again the car will think the boot is open if they do seem a little stiff spray some WD-40 on then and push in and out until they feel free.

The other thing it could be is the alarm sensitivity, its basically a small screw you turn and it controls the level of the alarm going off, like if its very windy and your alarm keeps going off then you would adjust it to be less sensitive.

Thirdly the car battery may be on its way out or the connection to the battery is lose somewhere, the car will think someone is tampering with it and again go off.

Lastly the car locks may not be completely turning to the lock position kind like they are half way between locked and unlocked although the car will still lock, This is more common on hondas though so less likely on your car!

Try the cheapest option first check them switches on the inside of the door, called pin switches. its very common this time of year if its cold. have a good scout right around each door and, also the bonnet/hood sometimes have this switch once you have seen one you will know what they look like. just make sure they are all connected properly and free them up.

Hope this helps, if itsnot any of them then its a fault on the alarm. Do you have a very small key? if so chaces are its for an aftermarket alarm so you can find the noise making box under the bonnet and turn it to off.

I went through the same thing with my Jetta here recently.

You need to replace your drivers side door locking mechanism. The mechanism has poor solder welds (thanks VW) that break under normal use. Eventually these welds will fail causing your door mechanism to think that it is being opened and closed all the time, does it seem like the car is possessed at times? Do the doors lock and unlock, or refuse to lock? Does the interior light come on while driving? These are a few of the symptoms.

When you lock you car and walk away the alarm is set and the car knows all the doors are closed, but when the door mechanism breaks contact the car thinks the doors been opened and sounds the alarm. I tightened up the two bolts at the end of the door, they are a torx pattern and required a rather large torx driver bits to fit them but they may straighten the problem out for a while if they are loose. It's a cheap temporary fix to the problem. Hope that Helps!!

I had same problem with my 2002 CLK430. Dead battery with car locked. You can't open doors with the mechanical key (inside remote key), as windows need power to slide down slightly to allow clearance, so you can't access the hood release. The answer is to insert the mechanical key in the key hole for the trunk (boot). It will only go in one way, with the slightly larger grip part down. I found it easiest to turn with a pair of flat nosed pliers. Turn counterclockwise to the left to to the 11 o'clock position. Then push the release in and the trunk will open. Battery is located in the right rear quarter under the flooring panel that also covers spare tire. Hook up charger or jumper cables and power will come back on, as will alarm. To disable, just push the unlock button on the remote key. You should be good to go from here!