how does the anti-theft prevent the car from starting

When my car was stuck at the bank and I couldn't start it, I had to tow it home and wait 2 days for the anti-theft lock to reset itself. Other wise I would have to pay someone at the audio/alarm store at minimum of 130 dollars to by pass the alarm and put a wire in to replace where they had installed the alarm on the wiring to the starter. I guess its a easy job but I wasn't sure which wire was the right one since mine was a different color than what you tube showed. So I just let it sit at the house and in two days it started. However I Dont ever use my alarm or the button on my keyring to lock my doors.

Hi auto werld. I'm researching my very own car not starting issue. I have a very nice '97 4.6L V8 with street effects, tinted glass, Ford Green, with a whopping almost 69k original miles on it, lol. Yup, that's right just under 70k original miles. I started her yesterday for the first time this year, and as always, she made me proud by firing right up (I keep battery disconnected of course). Went for a little ride, came back, than another ride, came back. An hour later ready to detail and she wouldn't start, made/makes all the normal motions of not having the ATS chip inserted under the dash, however, it's in. I'm going to hope n pray that it resets itself like in this gentleman's case. Neither the chip nor the receptacle smell burnt. My immediate unofficial guess is that for some reason it tripped for lack of better words and takes 48 hours to reset OR it's a fuse or relay, neither of which I can find for the ATS (Anti Theft System, just in case, lol).