ive been having this issue for about a month now. 1992 firebird convert. when i turn the key to start it everything dies except interior lights. radio all the lights on the dash shut off. starter is good had it checked. no security light on ever. it has vats system but not hooked up to anything. ie wire harness from 88 camaro w/out vats. and steering column from 1988 camaro no vats. im at a loss with it. please help. any ideas

 

I'm not sure how vats is supposed to work but I know I had to disable it in my prom.

Could be that your battery has internally cracked plates. I had issues like that on a grand am.
Does it start right up with a jump?

Is the braided strap or flat metal piece that goes from your solenoid to starter grounding out against the body of the starter?

 

That sounds exaxtly like what happened to my 91 RS> I had the VATS bypassed at teh steering column by soldering in a resistor, but there is a second function in the VATS that I believe disables the fuel pump throuhg the ECM. LIsten to see if your fuel pump runs wehn you turn teh key to "On" (not start) I think if you don't hear it that indicates a VATS problem. I was lucky to know someone locally who specialized in vette and thirdgen electrical. He did some wiring and stuff to bypass. Not sure what. he was under the hood and in the areas around hte VATS and ECM. I think you can also disable it through reprogramming. check sith the folks at tbichips.com or www.hawksthirdgenparts.com. tehy sell a VATS bypass module. Sorry i can't be more specific.