viper 5704 troubleshooting

Hey i have a customers car its a 2000 integra type-r and it was just purchased from out of state. it has a viper 5704 alarm/remote start installed and it was not installed cleanly. so i took the car apart and cleaned up a few things.

in order of events, i disconnected the ground wire first and continued to clean the install up. the power harness was still connected. then, a few minutes later the unit was activating relays inside it in a weird pattern. they werent rapid clicks, but a steady pace, not in a pattern of activating the remote start, and then stopped. so i finished cleaning the install up, i go to press the lock button...and no response. neither the 2 way or 1 way remote responded to the unit. 

i tried to pair the 2 way remote for over an hour and it would not pair. the viper unit went into programming mode no problem, and the remote went into programming mode as well, but they did not pair to each other. the last command the remote displays on the lcd screen is unlock, and it does go to programming mode everytime. no fuses from the car or the unit were bad. i disconnected the power harness and let it sit for a while, but nothing. i wont have access to the car until tuesday, all i have is the brain and 2 remotes and no bitwriter. has anybody had this issue?

Removing the ground with power present is a terrible idea and you likely have fried the brain. What happens is the unit immediately powers up and if no ground is present the 12v will find a path to ground through anything it can find ground through. This typically results if a partially responsive brain or a complete failure. Remove the 12v fuses or plug in the power harness last on a replacement brain and then of course you will need to reprogram all of the settings to fit your install.To master and control electricity is perfection. *evil laugh*

Hey update...i got the car back today and i reconnected the brain and reprogrammed the renote and no problems !

I'm with racerjames here, standard rule for 12Volt electronics, ground first.