Am i clear on this? When you turned the valves to the "on" position, you got no water, right? If that is the case all I can suggest at this point is to make sure there are no other valves in between your poc (point of connection) to the water source. Is this thing / valve on the side of the house a back-flow preventer? If so, check to make sure there is not another valve in the ground near there (such as a manual ball valve or gate valve). You might also want to look at your controller and see if there is a main / master valve hooked to the circuit. If so this could be the culprit, as the master valve controls all water to all valves.
Josh
Irrigation /Landscape Lighting / Pump and Well Specialist