What could be wrong if your outside electrical plugs stopped working and you checked the breakers and all GFIs in the house?

Answer 1

As a service electrician, I saw this many times. I would bet a paycheck on the fact that there's a GFI you haven't found yet, or a tripped breaker that doesn't look tripped. Start at your breaker panel. Without forcing them enough to actually turn them off, wiggle the breaker handles slightly to see if one just shoots to the tripped or off position. If none of them are the culprit, it's probably a hidden GFI. Keep in mind the common location for GFI's: Kitchens, bathrooms, garages, and outdoors. Don't think that the second floor GFI can't control the outside receptacles. When it comes to troubleshooting, you'll realize that a lot of wiring routes follow no logic. Also, I've seen many garages lined with stuff to the point that you can't see the walls. You'll have to actually search along the whole wall to find those GFI's. ----

If you do not understand the work well enough to accomplish it yourself properly and safely, don't try it. Consult a professional electrician, as they are proficient enough to do it properly and safely. When working on electrical circuits and equipment, make sure to de-energize the circuit you will be working on. Then test the circuit with a definitive means to make sure it is off. (Multimeter with metal tipped leads, voltage tester with metal tipped leads, etc., not a non-contact tester, which is non-definitive.)