Hello, I just purchased a home and found out that one of the rooms has no power.
So, I turned off all the breakers and turned them back on, one by one.
Still no help.
Can someone tell me what should I do next?

PS: Home was built in 1985.

Take note of which outlets work and which don't. Turn off breaker to that circuit if you can determine which one it is. Again take note of which outlets work and which ones don't. Hopefully you will now know all of the outlets on that circuit.
Remove one of the non-working outlets and see if it has been wired using the "Quick Connect" holes in the back. These are known to develop bad connections after a period. Remove the wires from the quick connects and place under the screws. The bad connection can be at the first non-working outlet or the last working outlet. The bad connection can be in the hot (black) wire or the neutral (white). If this is your problem you may as well redo all of your outlets and switches. Only a matter of time before another bad connection develops.

Thanks for the reply.
None of the outlets in that room works, and the light does not work.

Here are the list of things I tried:
1. tap each breaker with a voltmeter. All of them are live
2. took out all the outlets in that room, and tested the wires with voltmeter. None of the outlet shows any sign of power.


Take note of which outlets work and which don't. Turn off breaker to that circuit if you can determine which one it is. Again take note of which outlets work and which ones don't. Hopefully you will now know all of the outlets on that circuit.
Remove one of the non-working outlets and see if it has been wired using the "Quick Connect" holes in the back. These are known to develop bad connections after a period of time. Remove the wires from the quick connects and place under the screws. The bad connection can be at the first non-working outlet or the last working outlet. The bad connection can be in the hot (black) wire or the neutral (white). If this is your problem you may as well redo all of your outlets and switches. Only a matter of time before another bad connection develops.

Did you check each side of each breaker for power to see if any of the breakers are not working ?

Breaker has 2 sides? I tap my voltmeter on to the screw of each breaker, where the wire is connected to.

Yes a breaker has two sides, inside and outside. :) Actually there are two connection points, the Branch Circuit connection (the screw) and the Bus connection. Power is from the bus through the breaker to the Branch circuit.

First thing to check is that this room is not being fed from a receptacle that is a GFCI receptacle. If the GFCI breaker tripped, it may easily shut off a connected room.

What was the voltage reading from the breaker you tested for this room? When you opened the receptacle outlets, did you note which receptacle have two cables in the box and espicaly which receptacle has only one cable.

The receptacle box with only one cable is the end of the circuit. Give that you have no idea which cable is your feed to the circuit, I would start wringing out the cables.

To do this, make sure that the breaker for this branch circuit is either turned off or removed from the panelboard.

Then place a jumper wire on one of the receptacle wires and use your Ohm meter by connecting one probe to the jumper wire and then use the other probe to check for Zero Ohms.

Continue around the room until you have a map of all the receptacles and can now identify the feeder cable.

Once you have the feeder isolated, you can then run some tests on it including voltage, one the breaker is reinstated.

Cicici:
After reading all the comments I would agree with that the more likely problem is
A receptacle that has been "back-wired" in a room directly adjacent to the room that has no power... I know this looks like a needle in a hay pile! But think about opening the receptacles that are "working" that are closest to the room that does not... if they are back-wired, re-wire them to the screw terminals... my guess is one of them might be the answer and won't require more than a few minutes of your time to investigate.
Good luck...

Everyone, thanks for the replies again.

The room does not have any GFCI outlet. At least I don't see any outlet with the reset button.

As Don mentioned about finding one cable into the outlet box, I **think** I found something like that. I opened up all the outlets, and most of them have 2 black wires, 2 white wires, 1 copper wire. All the wires are connected to "Quick Connect" holes at the back of the outlet.

Then, I found only 1 outlet has 1 black wire, 1 white wire, 1 copper wire. Maybe, that's "the end of circuit"?

I tried to pull out the wires from the outlet. I found that is impossible, with the fear that I will do further damage. I unscrewed the screws on the side and tried to pull the wires out. But they just don't come out. I could only pull out a little bitty of copper.

Then, Don, I am not too certain how to follow your instructions after "To do this, make sure that the breaker for this branch circuit is either turned off or removed from the panelboard."

Which one is jumper wire?? Do you have any pictures??
What does it mean that a "receptacle has been back-wired"?

Cicici...
Good you found the end of the circuit... the receptacle with the single wire. Now imagine that the next closest receptacle is the second to last receptacle on the circuit and so on... until you get to a receptacle that is "working"... Now check this receptacle - what you are looking for is a "back-wired" receptacle (back-wired is when you push the wire through the holes in the back of the receptacle) that is not making good contact. If you hold the wire and rotate the receptacle back and forth the wire will back it's way out. Sometimes they pop right out when pulled on and that is the problem I think you will find that you have...

Hum... I am trying to imagine how to do this.

So, I found the end of the circuit, how do I find which one is the next one? This room has total of 4 outlets. Are all the oulets connect in series? Like this one I drew?
http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/cicici00/outlet.png

I am not sure how to find zero ohm. Do I just connect each probe of my voltmeter to the black and white wire individually?

Cicici:
The room that does not work has (4) outlets... most circuits in a dwelling will have more outlets and lights connected to it than that... This is the reason I think that an adjacent room has a receptacle that has been back-wired and the connection has failed. Start at the end of the line (the outlet with the single wire) and work back to the fourth outlet that is not working... Then find the "next" closest outlet and tug on the back-wired conductors to make sure they are not loose... try this

Here is the locations of the rooms.
http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/cicici00/roomsetup.png
Small room, no power
Master bath, no power on 2 of the outlets, but all the lights and fan are working.
Master bed, all outlets are working, light is working
Guest Bath, all outlets are working.

Let me know if I got you right. You want me to go to the Master Bedroom, find the closest outlet and see if it is been back-wired? How do I know if a receptacle has been back-wired?

You may need to check the box in the Bath that is dead, The switchbox, then receptacle 1.

Cicici:
To tell if a device is back-wired you need to physically remove it from the outlet box
And look at the back of the device. If it is "back-wired" then the wires will have been pushed into the holes in the back of the device... that is "back-wired".
The surface area of contact on back-wired devices is not good so they frequently fail. If they are back wired, tug on each of the wires and give the device a gentle twisting motion as you tug... if it is real loose the wire may "pop" out. If it does make a loop and terminate the wire under the screw on the side of the device for a much better connection...