bad fuel pump?, throwing fuel pump code Options

[Red_06_EvoRS]

The car: 1993 Eclipse GSX, 5 speed.

The problem: I was cruising down the highway Thursday and, for no apparent reason, the check engine light came on. The car continued to run fine the last couple of miles home. I put the logger on and it pulled a fuel pump code. I didn't clear it but did drive it to work and back home again Friday with no problems. The check engine light stayed off. We were out of town until today so the car didn't get driven since Friday afternoon. I was going to take it in and have it checked out today. When I went to start it, it didn't want to start. It took several long crankings to get it to fire. Whenever I put it into gear, it would die. I finally managed to get it moving but it was like it wasn't getting fuel. Around this point the check engine light came on again. After a couple of blocks, it began to run like normal.

The shop (Meineke - I've had luck with them in the past), couldn't pull any codes and the check engine light was off again. It started and ran fine for them, of course.

I seem to recall a thread on here where someone had a problem starting their car but after it finally started, it ran fine. There was some discussion about the fuel pressure draining away over time. I couldn't find that thread and can't remember if a final resolution was given.

So, the question is: when a fuel pump code is thrown, what all could be the problem, especially, with the listed symptoms?

[Red_06_EvoRS]

I took the car to R&R and had Rick check it out. He pulled several codes but no fuel pump code. He found an O2 sensor code, Engine Coolant Temp sensor code, and E1, E2, & E3 codes which don't seem to mean anything. He cleared them out and I drove it for another week. The check engine light came on a couple more times during that week. He checked it again and found the exact same codes as before. This time he couldn't clear the codes so he unhooked the battery to clear everything out. I drove it for another week (with another couple of check engine lights) and took it in again. This time he only found the Engine Coolant Temp sensor code. So, he replaced that and I haven't had a check engine light since. That was about a week ago so it seems to have fixed the problem.

After all of that rambling, my question is, what does everyone use to check ECU codes? I'm just using a Palm running Palm'n'Stein and a logger cable. Apparently, I can't trust it to read the codes.