2002 Nissan Altima dash lights

I recently had the same problem and I talked to a mechanic friend of mine and he was able to figure it out. It's simple and it fixed the problem for me. To the left of the steering wheel on the dash is a a sort of small wheel with a picture of light on or above it. If you turn the wheel all the way in the opposite direction that it is now your dash lights should be back on when your headlights are. The little wheel is the dimmer for the dash lights and it might have accidentally got turned down.