On 1/4/2013 11:08 AM, gregrwm wrote: > in this age of plastic pipes, faucets ain't necessarily what they used to be. > > this here tripp lite says "line fault" at the socket i sadly was > using, but says "line ok" and "protection present" at another socket. > i'm presuming that means all 3 wires are as they should be, at this > outlet, and the tripp lite should have passable surge protection. am > i being overly trusting? > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list No, I'd suspect that the top outlet in the box is faulty... you could replace it fairly easily with the instructions I gave earlier... Buy a replacement receptacle at a hardware store. Turn the breaker to off. Remove the faulty outlet. Put in the new one (putting the ground, neutral and hot in the right locations) Screw down the receptacle in the box Turn the breaker back on. Test and you should be good. If one outlet works properly and the other doesn't that's (IMHO) all that you need to do.