Power Out to Some Outlets

[UncleBadDog]

Okay... I installed a new GFI in the kitchen. Yesterday the kids were using the microwave to cook all of their meals. All is well. About a half hour after they were done, I'm sitting in the living room and I hear a little "pop" and then we lose power to a few things down the line from the GFI. I get up and look and the GFI isn't tripped. I test it and reset it anyway. No change. I go to the breaker box and nothing is tripped. I "exercise" a couple of the breakers just to be sure. No change.

Question is... Wife just bought one of these cheapy little air freshener fans that plugs in the wall and goes off whenever it wants to. Could that have maybe caused something to go awry because the outlet it was plugged into is one of the first ones "down the line" that are out. If this is indeed the case, will replacing that outlet fix my problem, complete the circuit and return power to the rest of the line or do I have a more serious problem than that?

Please note that other things down the line from the GFI are working. It's just a few other outlets down the line from those ones that are not.

Nothing else in the house seems to be acting strange.

[LazyPup]

If you know the oder of the outlets on the downstream run, the problem is most likely either in the first one that is not working properly or the last one immediately ahead of it.

[kactuskid]

It's probably not the outlet that is bad, it's the connections to the outlet that are most likely bad. If any of your receptacles have the wires inserted into the little holes in the backs, remove them from these holes and wrap them around the screws on the sides. Backstabbed receptacles are the cause of lots of problems with loose wires. Here's a link to give you more details.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/electrical/article/0,16417,562098-9,00.html#

Receptacles are normally daisy chained so if you have a loose connection at one you will lose power to the ones down the line.