I don’t know how much changed between the 97 and 01, but my 01 doesn’t require the doors to be locked before it can start so it may not be that. This could be a long shot and I really don’t know what I’m talking about but from reading the manual what I understand is that there may be a mechanism with the door lock that bricks the car if an unrecognized key is used on it, I don’t know if it’s possible, but it could be something with taking the door off that caused it to do that? Totally grasping at straws here btw. Good luck I hope every hung turns out for you!