weird electrical issue

[fupabox]

Hope someone can help.
My wifes 2000 2.0 has been stored for the past year and started weekly during storage. 1 time I started it and the airbag light came on . I took it to the dealer and they reset it and oddly enough put in a free cat conv as mine was rattling ??? not a prob. The car was fine the next few starts (still stored)then needed aboost...all fine charged batt...but now the radio is completely dead...no lights nothing, the c.e.l. is on , the car is hard to start and idles poorly, pass side window switch locks and unlocks the doors ???????????? drivers power window switch for the pass side works fine. pass side lock button does nothing, and all lighting on pass door is out ?????
Any help would be appreciated ...or do I need a can of gas and a match... car has 81k miles and has been flawless until now

[LadybugEwa]

I'm sure your radio problem is because of the battery, and reasonably sure the rest of the problems are related. When your battery dies or is disconnected, the radio goes into safe mode. To get it out of safe mode, you need to enter your radio code. Normally, this should be in your owner's manual, but could also be on a sticker in the spare tire compartment. It'd be best if you found it on your own, because stealers are known to charge a fee for getting it for you.
Even though your CEL isn't on, I'd still hook up a vag-com and see if there's any codes, and definitely check the fuses, especially the ones on top of the battery, since they're known to have a tendency to melt. Good luck, and I hope other more mechanically inclined Orgers will put you on the right track if I'm wrong.

[fupabox]

Thanks for the advice,although I doubt the prob is the battery. I have no power at all to the stereo (i have the code but without power can't enter it. Unless VW is using some really insane electrical wizardry I cannot imagine a dead battery changing the function of a power window switch to the doorlocks. My guess is real live gremlins...

[kcfoxie]

you may want to unplug the battery for 30 minutes and reset the ecu and the rest of the car. then reattach the power and see what happens. where are you? we can probably find someone with a VW scan tool (vagcom) and pull the codes to further diag the problem.... also autozone can pull the P-codes for free.