My wife plugged an extension cord with two items (a lamp and an alarm clock) into an available slot on a surge protector, which is then plugged into an outlet. The surge protector already had three other items plugged into it.
As a result, the upper socket on that outlet and an adjacent outlet have no power, but the lower socket has power. Turning the breaker off and on did not help. The other outlets in the room are fine.
Is this a simple case of going to the hardware store and buying two replacement outlets, or could it be something else? Why would the lower socket on an outlet work but not the upper?