1. Take a 12v multimeter and place the red lead onto your main power wire that plugs into the + port on your amp. Take the black lead and touch the frame of your car. Read what it says. It should say 12.something. That verifies that the main power wire is in fact intact from the front of the car all the way back to your amp. If you get 12v proceed to step two. If you get zero on the multimeter, open up your hood, look at your battery, check to see that the main amp power wire is hooked up. If it is, check for the fuse block in line with the main amp power wire if its blown. Other than a serious break in the wire somewhere which would have blown the fuse anyway, or caused your car to burn down to a pile of smoldering ash, these are the only possibilities that it could be.
2. This step assumes you have 12v going to the power wire of the amp. Take the Black lead of your Multimeter from the frame of the car and place it onto the ground wire (-) on the amps terminal block. If you get 12v proceed to step 3. If you had 12v with the black lead connected to the frame but not when you touch the negative terminal of the amp then you have a bad ground wire. Inspect the condition of the wire all the way to the grounding point. Check the screw or bolt where the amp is grounded for corrosion or rust. If wire is bad, replace. If ground is corroded, replace the ring terminal and find another ground. continue to do this until you have a 12v reading from the multimeter. This now verifies that the amp has a good power and ground. Proceed to step three.
3. Take a piece of wire about 1 foot long and strip about a quarter inch from each end. This is what we call a jumper wire. place one side of the jumper wire on the + terminal of your amp. Place the other side of the jumper wire onto the Remote terminal of the amp. The amp should turn on, verified by whatever status light is installed on the amp. If the amp does not power on then the problem is internal and either needs serviced or replaced. Things to check if the amp does not turn on before you scrap the amp is that the speaker leads are NOT touching each other. NEVER connect the speaker wires together. The voltage isn't high enough to see the spark you are looking for and will only damage the amp or put it into protect mode if so equipped. IF the amp powers up by using the jumper wire, turn on the car with the radio on so the remote wire from the radio is on. The amp should turn on. If not replace the remote wire.
During the entire process you will not hear sound from the amp, maybe a slight hiss if anything. This is because there is no input from the RCA's for the amp to process and send to the speaker
And with that said, NEVER ground any power wire looking for a spark unless you are trying to A. electrocute yourself, or B. start a fire. Multimeter are cheap and you can get them anywhere.
If it seems that I am talking down to you, I am not. A simple task for me may be brain surgery for someone who has never done it. We cant learn how to do things if we aren't taught. You can use these steps to troubleshoot just about any type of DC (direct Current) application.
Good luck and ask questions.
J
I was thinking the same.