Took my '03 Mini Cooper S in for its annual Massachusetts inspection - everything was fine until the inspection site was not able to get a reading from the onboard diagnostic computer as part of the emissions testing. The guy showed me the reading on the hand-held unit they plug into the OBD port in the driver's footwell - it was not communicating w/ the OBD module.

He said it looked like the computer needed to be reset, and that a Mini dealer could do it, but that he couldn't. He asked if the battery had recently gone dead or the car been jumped - neither applied. The dealer's not local (bought the Mini used) or convenient to get to.

Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, and is there a way to reset the computer w/o a dealer or lots of fancy gadgets?

A BMW dealer is nearby, but they haven't been responsive to voicemail messages - thought maybe the BMW dealer could reset the computer - anyone know if they might be able to do it?