Electrical-wiring - Nissan :: 2008 Won't Start / Red Light Flashing

We have a broke (aren't they all?) college kid living with our family who's parents have basically signed off on him. He has this car and so far it has been reliable. He was driving on the freeway last week and he said it began to smoke, so he hot to the side and turned it off. He then had it towed to a neighboring street off the freeway and came for my advice. Unfortunately he knows little about cars in general, so he couldn't tell me if the smoke was steam or how it smelled or anything. I told him I should go back with him and check the oil before he attempted to restart it, I am guilty of blowing up my own transmission in college bc I thought my dad was checking the oil and he thought I was checking the oil...well, no one was...anyway, I got him to call his insurance and we found out he had coverage, so instead he got it towed here. I checked the oil after it got here, there was little oil in it, but, it would also not start. It would not even attempt to turn over. Putting it into accessories did nothing.

My husband then got involved and cleaned off the battery connections and then we attempted to jump it. After about an hour, we gave up, and took the battery in, and they said it was the original battery so we replaced it out of our pocket. Put that in the car and now we only get a dash light of a car with a key that is red and flashes. No lights, no radio, no anything else but an annoying red flashing light. Turns out he has an intelikey system. The dealership over the phone said they have to reprogram the key fob and car so they need both to do so. That's an initial charge of $175 and another call to the insurance for towing...which I'll have to pay. But, if I do that and that doesn't cure all that ails it and it doesn't start...then what? Is there anything else we can try first or does that intelikey hold the access to everything on the car? My husband has some mechanical skills but not a lot of time to search and troubleshoot and hasn't worked on a nissan before, his job is very demanding right now, but given direction can do a lot himself.