Reddit reviews Gardner Bender GFI-3501 Ground Fault Receptacle Tester & Circuit Analyzer, 110-125V AC, for GFCI / Standard / Extension Cords & More, 7 Visual LED Tests

And if you find no GFCI breakers, (a "test" button on the breaker is a good indication that it is GFCI or Arc-Fault protection, the fine-print on the breaker label will indicate which), there may be an "upstream" GFCI outlet protecting kitchen and outdoor circuits. In a recent house, for Kitchen it would need to be in kitchen/pantry/dining room, and hopefully visible -- rather than behind a stove or refrigerator...

Easiest way to check is with a GFCI outlet tester, but then you still need to find the GFCI face with the reset button in order to get power back on the circuit.

In newish houses with the main breaker panel in the garage, it is not un-common to have a GFCI outlet in the garage that is the protection for some outdoor or crawlspace outlets.

Use a furman power conditioner,

And get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00170KUPC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rSk-ybESFZZE0

Well that's not strictly true. GFCI outlets can be wired onto a circuit without protecting anything else. They have two sets of connections, one for the live wires and one for downstream stuff. If a GFCI outlet is wired up like a normal outlet, it'll only protect itself.

Buy a sub-$10 tester, it'll test if an outlet is protected by GFCI, as well as telling you about a bunch of other things that could be wrong.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00170KUPC

There are very few grounded outlets to choose from in my apartment :D But I will give this a shot. I wonder if it is possible to carry out this diagnostic test on the outlets directly using either my multimeter (obviously making sure I know exactly what I'm doing before shoving the leads into the outlet) or using an outlet LED tester

I would get an outlet tester and see if your wiring is basically correct. Thinking this is a ground issue.
Not the best method to test but something like
this will check for obvious issues.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00170KUPC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Z74yCb93HF2KM

Looks a bit like maybe a ground/neutral issue, or maybe just a bad ground on the outlet. Easy to test with one of these.

What else is on that circuit? Is there another gfci? Also, do you have an outlet tester? You need one like this: http://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-GFI-3501-Outlet-Tester/dp/B00170KUPC It is better at testing the outlet than the outlets own test button.

I've seen other posts about people getting shocked by their hyperx alloy boards.

It's either your wall socket that the PC is plugged into not being properly grounded, or the keyboard itself is not grounded properly in the far left pin meaning it's faulty and you should RMA it.

Check if your wall socket is properly grounded, either using a multimeter or with a wall socket ground fault tester.

Because you also say your PC case shocks you, your wall socket is probably faulty.

Try one of these $5 tools before you call an electrician.

https://smile.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-GFI-3501-Receptacle-Extension/dp/B00170KUPC

Except it's not a loose connection, it's a brand new power strip that I have it plugged into.

>You don't know first thing about AC, do you?

You don't have to be so fucking rude about it. I never claimed to be an electrician or even know anything about electrics at all.

All I know, for a fact, is that when I plug it in one way, it shuts off. When I turn it around, it doesn't. Maybe polarity is the wrong word for it, I just assumed it was polarity because this thing is what I was given to make sure everything is plugged in right.

You just plug in the transformer, plug this thing into it, and if the two orange lights come on, you're good. Sometimes it's one orange and the red, then you have to flip the plug in the wall.

It does make a difference, I just don't know exactly what that difference is.

In America. Complete amateur.

Background: I've wired off the back of this circuit before. It's got three outlets on it so I ran a new string of two more outlets behind it.

Now: Remodeling kitchen, shut off the same circuit I did before, tested the outlet with:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00170KUPC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pqcKDbYM29YQ9

And no lights came on in either outlet and nothing worked further down the circuit so i thought I was good. Went to the second outlet on the circuit and began taking it apart. Got the outlet pulled away from the box to see the mess you see in the photo. Question 1, isn't that wrong? The old owner twisted the incoming and outgoing wires together, then ran one of them long to hook around the terminal. I've never seen any videos telling me to do it that way..

But anyway, I loosened the terminals and pulled off the wires all was good. Set the outlet aside. But because he twisted everything together inside the box like that, I decided it would be easier for me to just cut the cable off above and below the box and just pull them through.

Went to cut the black wire and heard a pop and spark and noped the fuck outta there and haven't touched it since. Any help on all or some of the below questions would be helpful and much appreciated.

A) Does it still have power? Why?

B) Do I need an electrician?

C) How close did I come to killing myself? Really.

D) Why was it ok for me to touch the outlet, pull off the wires, touch them, etc. But when I went to cut the black one I suddenly get action?

As much as possible, ELI5, I'm an amateur but really want to learn. I will Google everything, give me articles if needed.. Fascinated by all of this and don't wanna die. Thanks in advance.