98 Cavalier won't start, dashboard dead too

Help! I have a '98 Cavalier that I recently bought. I thought the car was in really good shape till now. Anyways, at random today my car wouldn't start (in front of autozone, define ironic). It would turn over and sometimes would even start but never stays on. When I say starts I mean it would catch for about 2 seconds and just die. I also noticed that none of my dashboard lights (check engine, battery, oil pressure, etc.) are coming on. My speedometer doesn't work either (I know because my dad towed me home and it didn't register any speed) For the last few days I've also noticed that my digital odometer was going from my mileage to a bunch of random figures that were all screwed up and then flash back to normal. It would flip back and forth all the time doing this. The only thing I've done to the car was replace the rear defogger fuse which was missing and the airbag fuse which was also missing. Any ideas? Are these problems somehow related? A few of my friends who are car junkies thought it might be my computer but they weren't 100% sure. If you can help me I'll be grateful to you for the rest of my life.

Thanks,

Sean

PS- I checked my spark plugs, all the fuses in the car (in cab and under hood), check all wires under the hood I could touch as well as in the car.

hi don't know if this will help have a gmc truck 96 did the same thing no dash lights run stop die some time even turn over and thats all checked everthing traced it back to a worn out ignition switch from 267 thousand km would not make contact on wire to comp.

Have you switched ign keys or do you have a spare to try in it?
Does the anti-theft light come on and go out after 10 seconds?
Get a scanner on it and see if it will communicate with the dash.
Check for all codes past present and body and eng. and anti-theft.
Post back info on anti-theft light and codes.
MT

Just to updated everyone it ended up being a blown fuse that I had overlooked. The fuse in question was the fuse that controlled the gauge cluster and because of the anti-theft the ECU thought that the car was hotwired. Hope this helps someone out there.

Just to updated everyone it ended up being a blown fuse that I had overlooked. The fuse in question was the fuse that controlled the gauge cluster and because of the anti-theft the ECU thought that the car was hotwired. Hope this helps someone out there.

Thanks for posting back the fix and glad you go it figured out and going.
Good luck MT