About 15x now over the last year, I get in the car, press the brake, the green light comes on and half way through the start-up, the car locks up. Dead, nothing. The brake feels stiff, the key fob will not open the trunk, nor will it lock or unlock the doors, no more green or orange light on the start button. Completely dead.
The last time I opened the door, closed it again and everything reset. It came back "alive", the navigation system rebooted, the air was off and my clock had been reset.
Some days this happens in a matter of a minute or two and other days it takes ten min.
Any ideas why? Is it a faulty ground? Not sure why it would automatically reset on its own.

 

wrong place, put this in the designated GS forum

 

do you drive the car frequently?

The 3GS has electronics that suck battery juice and the car can die every now and then.

Also, how old is your car battery?

 

I drive it everyday, several times a day. The battery is a few years old, but fires right up after the "dead time." Does seems to have any difficulty at any other times.

 

Moving this to the 3GS forum to get more focused answers

 

Check your alternator to see if it re-charges the battery while the engine is running. If it doesn't then that's the culprit. Your battery is running out of juice while the car is running. After the car died and you let it sit for a few minutes, then it starts right up again, that means your battery still have plenty of juice to crank up the engine, but ti does not the battery is strong enough to cover everything when the car is running.

 

Alternators are a weak point with these cars. I replaced the brush/contact kit in my wifes for under $15. She has an 07