[cjslider]

I have Xmas lights in the front of my home and they have been working for a couple weeks until this past Sunday. There was some rain earlier in the day. The house is only eight years old, so I assume they are GFI outlets but have no way to be certain. I only have four GFI outlets in the house----one in the garage, a dual outlet connecting two bathrooms and two in the kitchen. None of those GFI outlets were tripped, but I reset them anyway and it didn't solve the problem with the exterior outlets. I went down to the circuit panel and turned off all breakers and turned them back on. That didn't help. I got the builder layouts out from when the house was built and confirmed that there are no more GFI outlets that I'm not aware of. I took the circuit panel cover off and tested the connections on all of the breakers and they're all hot. Everything inside the house works, the only outlets that don't are the two outdoor outlets. I had an electrician come out tonight and he just re-tested everything that I already looked in to. He swore up and down he's never seen this and believes 100% that there is a hidden GFI outlet covered in drywall after the previous owner had the basement finished. How in the world do I fix the outdoor outlets? The electrician said he would have to come back and "re-fire" the outlets. I have no idea what that means or what happens the next time the outdoor outlets stop working. If the electrician is right and there is a hidden GFI outlet, how do I find it? I have a $12 voltage tester that tells me when an outlet is hot because it beeps and flashes when I wave it by the right side of a live outlet and I can't see how it can help me locate a hidden outlet because there is too much square footage to drag it around. What do I do? Any advice?

[Fr_Chuck]

Where is the electric ran, attic or cr
Awl space ? Have you tested both sides of each breaker to be sure breakers are working

[donf]

Yes you have you have a problem, however I would not jump to the assumption that there is a hidden receptacle outlet behind drywall.

When you removed the faceplate, did you determine if the receptacle is in the middle of the circuit or the end of the circuit.

If it is the end, can you determine where the wire is coming from? Can you determine whether anything else is on this circuit?

Have you used your circuit tester to determine whether the wires to the outlet are hot?

Are the wires for the outlet "Back stabbed" (this a notoriously poor way to install a receptacle because the connection points loosen).

If the wires are stuck into the back of the receptacle, kill the circuit to the outlet, remove the wires and attach them to the screws on the side of the receptacle. Also, if the wires are live and you cannot determine which circuit is supplying them, turn each breaker off and test to make sure the circuit has deactivated.

Also consider replacing the receptacle.