Theory Of Operation
WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2013 RAM 1500. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.
When the controller is reset (ignition turned to the RUN position) the microprocessor checks the integrity of the program memory Read Only Memory (ROM). A checksum is calculated by adding all used bytes in the program memory. The sum should be the same as a known constant stored in the program memory.