I'll start by saying I know this is a common problem and has been addressed many times, on many forums. But I experienced some new stuff today along with the alarm/starter shut-off problem that I can't seem to find answers to.

Typical thing: the faulty alarm cut the starter in our '98 Chrysler Town and Country. Usually locking the doors with the key and unlocking the rear hatch and then the driver's door fixes this. But not today. Nothing worked this time. Also, the electrical system started doing some crazy stuff; lights flashing but the alarm not sounding, the CD player was flashing. Eventually it lost ALL power. Putting jumper cables on it brought the power back, but it still wouldn't start. This problem started a little more than two hours after the initial shut-down, when I returned to the van to check on it. Maybe the alarm had drained the battery, I thought. But then I noticed a rapid ticking in the fuse box under the hood. Oddly, this was from the low beam relay?? I wiggled that and it stopped. Then, a relay in the INTERIOR fuse panel started ticking instead!
Out of ideas I disconnected the battery and decided to come home for a while. That was about two hours ago. I just read on this forum that you need to disconnect the battery for TEN or FIFTEEN MINUTES to reset the immobilizer. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting it before, but only for maybe a minute. So, I'm on my way to try it again. Hopefully it works, having been disconnected for this long. Just in case it doesn't, does anyone have any other ideas or advice? Thanks.