this may be a dumb question but im now getting fed up with this radio. so what started it all was when i turned on my headlights in my car my radio would go off. it would only work when the lights werent on. well i found the problem and it was a bad ground that was actually in the wiring harness for the radio. so i ran a new one. and when i went to shove the cdplayer back in the case a fuse popped and my cluster lights went out. so i changed the 5AMP fuse and now they wont work. im not sure if a wire may have touched in the back of the cd player. but is there another inline fuse for the cluster lights besides the 5 AMP one under the drivers side in the fuse panel? what could be wrong.

well i now got the cluster lights to come on when i take a source of power and put the wire into where teh 5amp fuse would go. still dont know the main problem though

I would start by taking out the radio and make sure the wiring is back to stock and go from their. It sounds like you have crossed the wires somewhere in the radio. Are you using the existing GM harness in the car?

yes stock harness. everything is wired correct right now. if i even unplug the whole harness i stil have no cluster lights.

Try unplugging the radio fuse from the fuseblock. That way you can narrow down if you have a short.