Replacing kitchen range difficult in older home

Q: We are replacing our old electric drop-in stove with a new dual-fuel slide-in, which features a gas cooktop and an electric oven. We have had the gas installed with no problem, but now have a problem with the electrical wiring. The old stove was wired directly and the new one plugs in, so we had to purchase a plug and a receptacle. The electrical wiring in the home for the stove has three wires: white, black and copper. The electrical box purchased for the range has four ports for connection. When we connected the hot wires and the ground and then turned on the electricity, we did not get power. Does this mean we have to re-wire the home from the circuit breaker to the oven with new wiring, or is there a plug-in box that will accommodate the current wiring? The current circuit is 40 amps -- will we need a bigger circuit as well? --Richard and Michaelene P. A: You're actually facing a fairly common problem. Older homes typically have three-wire connections for the range, ...