Thanks Snowman. I understood the test and agree that it would be the best way to test. I was going to do that Sat.

Fortunately, even though I didn't work on it at all tonight when I got home, I managed to find and fix the problem. I got a wild hair and decided to test a couple of other things. Figuring that the wiring may not make much sense I went ahead and tested a couple of other outlets. There were two outlets in a third room that were also on this circuit, and, I believe, the beginning of the circuit.

I plugged my tester into one outlet and turned on one of the switches and noticed my tester do it's thing (hot/ground reversed). I also noticed a buzzing noise. I took that outlet apart and put it back together and again noticed the noise which led me to the culprit. It had a connection that was obviously bad. I took it apart and put it back together and everything is working again. I still have all of the outlets uncovered, but I put the switch plates back on. I'll put the rest of the house back together tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for all of the help!!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178167979.jpg

I trust you put it back together with[list=1][*]clean piece of the wire[*]oxidation preventer on the wire.[*]the al compatible outlet is clean [*]a working smoke alarm[/list=1]

good job:)

Yep. I know, the buzzing noise is bad. I've lived with this Al wiring for about 10 years. I've had plenty of weird crap happen in that time.

Do you think this is what is in that tester he has? Those are neon bulbs.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178220823.jpg

I can't come up with a tester that would show the hot./ground fault without also showing another fault as well. Interesting problem.