You obviously have something hooked up wrong. Describe all the wires in the box, their color, and how you have them connected. Also describe what this switch controls.

Handyman,

Thanks for the quick reply. You were right, I had the wires hooked up wrong. I had the white and black screwed to the switch. White is suppose to be hooked up with the other white. The two black is suppose to be screwed to the switch.

I have another problem with another switch. This time the wires has black, red, white and ground. This is a four switch setup, located going down the basement. It control two different lights. Two switch control the lights going down. Two switch control lights just before you are at down of stairs. You can turn on and off from up and down the stairs. How do I hook up the wires the right way. i have not touch the wires for the switches on top of the stairs(they are hooked up right). Just having problem connecting the wires bottom of stairs. At bottom of stairs there are 3 wires, all have black, red, white and ground. One of the wire is the power.

Handyman,

It's a three way switch. Not four. Any suggestion?

john

Of course the ground connects to the green screw........

Check the top switch and attach the same two colors as attached to the travelers (plain screws).........

Here are some diagrams......There's also a "my switches don't work" troubleshooting page too.....

http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/courses/p230/switches/3way/variations.html