I have an outlet that is working, but when I plug something into the top part of the outlet the two other outlets in the room stop working! Today I plugged the vacuum into the top part and as I was vacuuming I noticed the computer lost power and the surge protector it's plugged into AND directly on the other side of the wall is another outlet that went dead too (tv, phone, cable box all off) But the outlet I was using was fine. I thought I blew a fuse, but when I finished vacuuming and unplugged the vacuum everything started back up!
I plugged the vacuum back in and it shut off the other stuff again. I tried a set of hot curlers, same thing BUT my hairdryer didn't shut the other stuff off?? The hairdryer does have a gfi type plug... don't know if that makes a difference.
This outlet is used fairly often and this has never happened. The only new thing is about a week ago my husband replaced the light switch in this room. He insists this can't be the problem, but it's the only new thing and it's the first time I've used the top part of this particular outlet since the light switch has been changed out. The light switch works fine by the way. Any ideas what could be causing this all of a sudden??

I'd be tempted to look at the switch first, although I agree with your husband that it should not have affected anything.

In our house, I wired the light switch to turn the top outlet of each plug in the living room on and off - then we could plug floorlamps into them and could use the lightswitch to turn them all on rather than having to walk over to each one individually.

If your house is similar, then your husband could have misconnected the plug supplies at the lightswitch so that they are in series with each other. i.e. plugging in multiple devices lowers the voltage and most electronics would not work.

Just a thought...

What doe the switch control?