Never heard of that, that would be cool. I searched online and found (just on the first search page) 2 places but both in the UK, here is one link:
Mercedes EIS EZS Immobiliser Key Module Recoding And Repair Service

Neat, thanks for the link Gilly.

nice find gilly, i hope it wont have to go to that. Hopefully when my key gets here tuesday, that the key was the problem the whole time.

since it's quick and free, have you verified that the car battery is healthy and fully charged?

This is the part:

L9338MD STMicroelectronics | Mouser

Mouser would be the cheapest/fastest way to get it if you specify US MAIL.

You can search the PN on eBay and see the sellers claim it fixes the EIS. Personally I have no idea if it would or not.

The repair place I found had a US location also. I have that link at work. Will post tomorrow.

yes it is, first thing i checked! thanks

Mpolli: Please post a link for me and other that may have this issue. That would be a tremendous help! thanks

OK. Here it is:

About BBA-reman

I never used them, never heard of them. But it might be worth a try. Of course, let us know if you go for it and what happens. This seems to be a really common problem on the 98's for some reason.

First year for EIS?

The EIS/Drive authorization system is one of the most misunderstood MB systems ever, especially by the DIY community. While having access to an SDS is helpful, the first, and best diagnostic step (in most cases) is to have a known-good key!

ILUVMILS,

Yes it is! got my key yesterday from the dealership and it works! Started acting funky at first but i think it was just the EIS getting used to the new key. Since then no problems so far.. (knock on wood) thanks for the help guys

Good to hear:).