Isolated hot line, reset GFI and used only hot line in and GFI blows.
Connected wires together to bypass outlet, and light works fine.
Best Answer
See how the power comes in via Cables? Each cable has 1 black wire, 1 white wire and probably a ground wire?
One of those cables is supply. The other one is onward power to your light or whatever.
I see no reason a light needs to be under GFCI protection. The LOAD terminals are not for using, unless you know exactly what you are doing and intend to GFCI-protect the onward loads. Protecting hardwired lights is silly, that's ground's job.
Place both blacks on GFCI "LINE" brass screw.
Place both whites on GFCI "LINE" silver screw.
Most GFCIs allow 2 wires in back-wires directly under the screw; if not, then pigtail the 2 black wires and 2 white wires. Crank the screws down quite hard.
Now, check other receptacle sockets that lost power during this situation. If they are in a place where GFCI is required, do a GFCI test on those. If it trips a GFCI (maybe this one), mark the socket "GFCI Protected". They make stickers for that purpose. Otherwise make sure to fit another GFCI there, or revisit the "know what you're doing/intend to protect onward loads" thing.
First thing to check, as @Tester101 points out, is that you've connected the wires to the LINE terminals on the GFCI receptacle. It will also have LOAD terminals, which would go any other outlets you'd want fed from (and protected by) this GFCI. But it doesn't appear that you have any of those.
Next you should carefully use the contact terminals of your multi-meter to measure voltage on the lines:
If you measure around 120V between the black and white wires leading to the GFCI, and those wires go into the LINE terminals of the receptacle, the receptacle should be test/reset-able and should show 120V when you test between the plug-in slots on the front. If you have 120V at the LINE terminals and not at the front, the receptacle is defective.
If you don't have 120V between the black and white wires, your circuit is switched off or damaged. You'll need to investigate the wiring to determine what's wrong. Your non-contact tester may have given you a misleading indication; the contact tester is more authoritative here.
To identify the "true" neutral, measure voltage between an insulated wire and the bare ground wire. Neutral and safety-ground should have zero voltage, because they are bonded in your main electrical panel. So you should have 120V between black and white; 120V between black and ground; and 0V between white and ground. If you have 120V between white & black but 0V on black/ground and 0V on white/ground, then your ground wire is not properly connected.
Finally, you should run a small length of bare wire between the ground bundle in this box and the ground screw on your switch, so that the switch's metal components are grounded.
Best Answer
See how the power comes in via Cables? Each cable has 1 black wire, 1 white wire and probably a ground wire?
One of those cables is supply. The other one is onward power to your light or whatever.
I see no reason a light needs to be under GFCI protection. The LOAD terminals are not for using, unless you know exactly what you are doing and intend to GFCI-protect the onward loads. Protecting hardwired lights is silly, that's ground's job.
Place both blacks on GFCI "LINE" brass screw.
Place both whites on GFCI "LINE" silver screw.
Most GFCIs allow 2 wires in back-wires directly under the screw; if not, then pigtail the 2 black wires and 2 white wires. Crank the screws down quite hard.
Now, check other receptacle sockets that lost power during this situation. If they are in a place where GFCI is required, do a GFCI test on those. If it trips a GFCI (maybe this one), mark the socket "GFCI Protected". They make stickers for that purpose. Otherwise make sure to fit another GFCI there, or revisit the "know what you're doing/intend to protect onward loads" thing.