Living Rooms Lights Out - GFCI Outlet Wiring Nightmare (Detailed Breakdown) PLEASE HELP 🙏
Hey everyone, I could really use some help from someone with more electrical experience. I’ve been trying to restore power to my living room lights, and it’s turned into a serious headache involving GFCIs, phantom voltage, and what seems like mismatched circuits. Thank you to anyone who reads all this. I’m mentally drained, and I’ve done everything I can think of. If anyone has ideas, diagrams, or has seen a setup like this before, I’d be so grateful. It’s not the lights — they’re brand new. It’s not the switches either. These lights were working perfectly recently and are controlled by two switches: one by the front door and one by the hallway. The breaker controls the hallway light, the living room lights, outlets, and the bathroom light — but only the living room lights are affected. When I put the tester on the switches, outlets, and light fixtures, they all read as having power.
I’ve documented and tested almost every combo I can — here’s the breakdown:
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The Situation:
• Living room lights stopped working.
• The only thing on that part of the circuit not working was those lights — everything else in the house was fine.
• I replaced the light switches, light fixtures, and even the GFCI outlet in the attic that I suspected was tied into the same circuit.
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What’s in the Attic Electrical Box:
• 3 Romex cables coming into a metal box.
• Middle Romex: white, black, copper (ground)
• Right Romex: black, white (no copper)
• Breaker Romex: black, white, green (the white shows no power, the green/black are tied into the hallway lights which still work)
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What I Know:
• The black wire from the right romex is the true hot — always shows voltage when disconnected.
• The white wire from the right romex also shows voltage, so it’s not a true neutral.
• The white wire from the middle romex was originally part of a neutral group, but it had previously burned. I’ve stripped and cleaned it.
• The white wire from the breaker shows no power and doesn’t work when paired with the right black hot — it kills the power.
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Original Neutral Setup (based on old photos):
• The white from the middle romex was bundled with a jumper, which then connected to the white from the breaker, which then went to a jumper that fed the outlet.
• So basically: middle white + jumper > breaker white + jumper > outlet
Where I’m Stuck:
• I’ve bundled the middle white, breaker white, and a jumper to the GFCI all in one nut (clean copper, tight connection).
• Tried both the right black and the middle black — neither works when connected.
• Right black used to be the hot. Now it shows no power.
• Middle black shows power when disconnected, but dies as soon as it’s connected.
• GFCI will not reset in any combination — no green light, no power at the outlet, no lights.
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Circuit Info:
• The breaker controls:
• Hallway light (still works)
• Bathroom light (still works)
• Some outlets (still work)
• Living room lights (only thing not working)
Testing Results:
• I’ve used a contact tester on the switch terminals, the light fixture wires, and even inside the outlet boxes.
• All of them read as having power.
• But no matter what I do, the living room lights won’t turn on — even with working switches and new fixtures.
The Mystery:
• These lights worked perfectly fine just recently.
• Now they’re the only thing on the circuit not working, and everything else that shares the same breaker is fine.
My Question(s):
• What am I missing here? Why does the black wire go dead when connected?
• Could I have a shared or broken neutral issue that’s killing the power?
• Is there any way to properly power the GFCI outlet using the wires in this box?
• Should I try a regular outlet just to test the loop?
• Any way to trace or restore the original hot if it’s disappeared?
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