I know its not a firebird thing but my buddy has a 98 cavalier and we put a new head unit in the car, it was working great but now theres it doesn't work. I mean theres no sound, you can't see anything on the display, but when you take the faceplate off theres a little redlight thats blinking so I'm assuming theres power.

PS:the only reason I'm posting this is because my nickelback cd is stuck in there

Thanks in advance

 

The fact that the red light behind the faceplate is on means that the constant 12v wire is hooked up and working. The "other" power wire that only receives power when the ignition is on may be disconnected or have a blown fuse. That is what I would check first. If that were disconnected it would cause the symptoms you are describing.

 

Jeff has it right. I've never blown a fuse in a headunit (and I've fooled with my fair share of headunits)...I have, however, see aftermarket harness conversions of, shall we say, lesser quality become damaged, even when new in bag. Once, I had similar problems to you...the ignition-triggered 12V wire was intact, but the wire it was supposed to connect to in the onboard harness didn't exist. The pin was in the wrong place on the aftermarket harness. Another problem I've had has been the wire itself being faulty...the wire inside the insulation is broken, damaged, etc, but the insulation shows no sign of this damage. I had the most annoying evening trying to figure out why the left side of the car wasn't making noise.

AR