1999 Honda Accord LX no crank/no start

So this problem began a few months ago.. I come out of the gym, car doesn't start, turn the key and absolutely nothing. I did the basic checks, checked to make sure I didn't leave lights on or the car wasn't in park.. nothing. Turn the key a few more times and boom, it starts.

I get home, it won't start. So I call a friend who knows a little about cars, he comes over, messes around awhile.. tries hitting the starter while telling me to crank it and a few other things, nothing. Eventually he runs a wire from the battery to the starter to jump start it and the car starts fine.

Later that night he calls me and tells me to check a few other things which brought me to this:

Sorry I can't post a link for some reason but if you remove the space between "imgur" and "com" and make it imgur.com it should work:
imgur com/ivO5FsT.jpg
(sorry admins i'm new to the forum and don't know how to articulate what is in the picture since i don't know much about cars)

I found if i pressed down on these connectors, specifically the one with the yellow arrows, the car would start. Car runs fine for a few days, won't start again, but pressing down on the same connector then trying to turn the key, it starts up. I posted on another forum and asked a few other people but they don't know what these are. They are in the panel on the inside of the driver's side car door.

Today I come back from my hike and the car won't start at all even if I press the connector. Jumping the starter made the car start again, but even if I take that connector all the way out and firmly snap it back in, the car won't start. I live in the southeast so the weather has been dropping below freezing at night but warming into the 50s-70s.

About 8 months ago I also had to have something replaced, the electrical portion of the ignition switch because the car would do no-starts or stall while driving. That's the only repair work I've ever had to do for the car in 10+ years of owning it. Those are all the details I can think of and any help would be much appreciated.

Troubleshooting your starting system with a multimeter.

1. Voltage drops. Check for a voltage across components. If you put a voltmeter on both sides of a component or connector, there should be little or no voltage registered if the part is conducting efficiently. Do this over any suspect connections or switches. If you get little or no voltage, then that part is working fine. if you get something approaching battery voltage, then that is not conducting well. (A switch is open, or a connection is poor.)

From the FSM page 4-5

Check the black/white wire under dash, and all connectors.
Check the ignition switch
Substitute a known good starter relay.

Okay, so the black/white wire should go to a connector somewhere under there, which will be the starter relay. That relay disables the starting system when the transmission is not in neutral.

The relay gets the black/white wire going in from the ignition switch (Disconnected, this should show +12V when you hit the start switch, and floating otherwise. This should show ground (Or very nearly) at all times, unless you've disconnected it from the starter. There should be a blue/white wire, which will show ground if the transmission is in neutral or park, (Or the clutch down, if you have a manual) and floating otherwise.

If you do not get a ground from the blue/white wire (Looks to be the connector at the top of the fuse box from your photo, I haven't looked at mine) when the transmission is in neutral, you will not get anything from the starter, because the relay will leave the circuit open.

Check that connector, anyway. It looks to be more relevant.

There is also a connection that should go live through a 7.5A fuse going to a blue/orange wire that connects to the ECU, but that should not affect cranking.

Oh, you can bypass the starter relay by jumpering the two black/white wires together at the connector, but this will not energize the ECU connector. I suspect that this is used to force the fuel pump to spin up to give fuel pressure for starting, but I haven't checked.

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I'll be able to get a multimeter soon. Is the starter relay you mention also referred to as a main relay? I came across a couple videos and posts while Googling symptoms, and "main relay" videos kept popping up - but in their videos, the engine tries to crank, mine doesn't. When I just googled Starter Relay some stuff about the main relay popped up on the first page and I saw another thread where you helped someone named Drew707 who said with a main relay he fixed his problem. In the thread he had a video with symptoms that act just like mine. A few other videos I've seen with main relay suggestions the car tries to crank though.

No, it's a different relay.

www.gvrdeu.org/Honda FSM/Accord/1998-2002 Accord FSM/1998-2002 Honda Accord SM.pdf

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I would take it to a place like AutoZone and have them check the battery and the alternator for free. You may have a ground problem. You could watch some Scotty Kilmer YouTube videos on "Fixing Strange auto electrical problems" and "Finding the source of electrical shorts in your car"