Dodge Intrepid Guages Dont Work

Hi, My friend has a 1996 Dodge Intrepid. When he turns on the car the RPM, Fuel, and Temp guages stay still and dont even move as if the car was off. While he is driving it like this, the transmission will not shift out of its first gear. The car drives and turns on every time. The guages are picky when and if they want to work, but when the guages do work the trans shifts fine and all the guages work. Crazy huh??? What should be the first few things that we should check?? Trying to help my friend out here.

Anybody have any suggestions? =( We checked the fuses that control the lights and dash lights but they were good/ Any ideas on what may be wrong?