Is there a fuse-able link somewhere? I lost dash lights & starter on my Chevy P.U. last summer. Turned out to be a fuse-able link on the firewall that fried. It fried because the ignition wire to the starter solenoid was worn bare and touching the frame. Took a couple fuse-able link replacements before I tracked down the source since it was one of those intermittent deals. I'd go for weeks before it would happen again. I've been good to go since I fixed the bare wire.
Could be the pop you heard was the link blowing?