There are many reasons why it does not work: its temperature control may be set too high if you want cooling or it may be set too low if you want heating; it may have lost all its refrigerant because of a leak in the system; its compressor pump may have stopped working; etc...
If you cannot see anything obviously "set wrong" the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) technician to advise you and/or fix it for you.
Instantly.
well, what my parents do when this happens is turn off the ac unit completely, keep it off for an hour or two and then turn it back on and its working better
Actually you can't, because an ac unit does not cool the air, it removes the moisture from the air that in turn cools it. An ac unit is actually a de-humidifier.
You obviously have a problem with your ac unit which cannot be dianosed here.
Mold.
Your a/c unit uses different relays(switches) that are energized when the thermostat calls for A/C.
to turn it off on pleasant days
An A/C unit is not required to run a furnace. You will want to make sure there are no gaps or missing equipment.
Something is wrong with it. Turn it off until you can have it looked at. Continued short cycling will kill the compressor.
If your car has a Serpentine belt that's one piece and made specifically for that engine, chances are you may have to repair the AC unit. From the description "snapping belts" one would assume that the AC Compressor is siezed, where the pulley doesn't even turn freely.
first turn on the truck turn on ac if the fan doesnt turn then pull the harness and check for voltage if there is none check fuses and relays if there is then fan is bad
the ac condensor on a 1998 Pontiac Bonneville is right in front of your radiator not hard to change at all.