"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message
. ..
My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm
clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged
into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged
into it.

As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have
no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on
did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.

Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two
replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower
socket on an outlet work but not the upper?



Sometimes there are switched outlets in a bedroom where one half of the
outlet is switched and the other half is on all of the time. You may have
some loose connections on the outlets. Before you buy anything you should
open each one up and find out what the problem is. The problem may not be
at one of the non-working outlets, but at an outlet or switch that is
working.