98 Maxima wire shortage?

Greetings, I Recently Just Bought A Used 98 Nissan Maxima. Before We Bought The Car We Checked It Out Thoroughly But Missed A Problem. Once We Got The Car Back Home Later That Evening My Husband Informed Me That Some Funky Stuff Was Going On. He Said If You Cut On The Headlights The Display On The Radio Goes Dark And The Clock Dims. There Are No Lights On The Dash So You Cant See The Instruments At Night To See How Fast You're Going. The Dimmer **** Does Not Work. It Does Nothing. Just No Lighting For The Dash. We've Been Searching Everywhere For An Answer To What Might Be Causing This. I've Gotten It Could Be A Fuse But We Had All The Fuses Checked Out And Only The Fuse To The Cigarette Lighter Was Blown. We Havent Checked The Fuse Boxes Under The Hood Yet. We've Gotten There Could Be A Shortage. We Just Dont Know. Want To See If Someone Could Help Before We Have To Go To The Nissan Dealership And Get Ripped Off! I Would Really Appreciate The Help! Oh Yea There Is Also This Noticeable Pop When You Turn The Steering Wheel. Not All The Time But Noticeable.