non grounded outlet

The wiring in my house doesn't have a ground wire and I would like to change out one of the outlets to include a ground. I am setting up a stereo system and would like protect it as much as possible. There are two oultlets side by side and I plan on plugging a surge protector in one of them. One seems newer than the other. I would like to change out the outlet. Without a ground wire, can I wire the ground to the metal box? Or can I just go with a GFCI outlet and not hook up a ground? Also the newer outlet seems to be wired different. The two black wires are hooked up to the cooper side and only one of the white wires is hooked up to the other side. The second white wire is hooked up with the top black wire. Only the top recepticle works. Why would they have hooked the outlet up with this configeration? My quess is that is why the bottom plug-in doesn't work.

 

That is wierd. How many wires are going into that box?

Anyhow, a GFCI will not provide you the sort of ground protection you need for your electronic equipment. You will need to run a ground wire to your electrical panel, or replace the wiring feeding
that recepticle witn modern grounded NM cable.

 

The Wiring Method in your house, not the receptacle-type, determines whether or not your "houses doesn't have a Ground."-----If you have metal cables connected to metal boxes from the receptacles back to the fuse/breaker panel, you probably have an adequate Grounding path for connecting Grounding-type receptacles.Using "old" armored cable for grounding receptacles is a very common practice in the electrical trade.

 

Thank You

 

You didn't specifically ask, but the odd hook up for the second receptacle sounds like it may be switched. Is there a switch nearby controlling lights (or nothing at all)? Try plugging a known working light in the "dead" outlet and turn some switches on.