The 2nd floor of my house has its own electrical panel. First problem was when the upstairs furnace was turned on it would short out the power. I have not used it this past year. When the weather got cold we used a few space heaters then the power went out for good. All the circuit breakers are on the on position, turned them all off for a few hours then turned them back on nothing happened. Any guesses?

Is the second floor panel a sub panel from the main breaker panel?
If it is you could have tripped a breaker feeding your 2nd floor panel.

When you say the furnace would "short out the power," what exactly do you mean?
Is this an electric-only furnace or does it use natural gas/propane?

It may be time to call an electrician.