nsfig

I have a 97 civic ex that I just purchased and I need to get it inspected. I went to a garage to see if there were any codes that were not showing up with the check engine light. When they pluged in the computer it didn't even turn on they told me that the computer wasn't getting a signal because that's how it turns on. The car runs great but I need to know what could be wrong so I can get that fixed. Any ideas??