You should never measure continuity across a capacitor, so either you bridged both sides or you damaged those capacitors somehow. If you feel brave, you could unsolder both capacitors, clean the pads, check if the short is still on the board or in one of the removed capacitors and then resolder/replace the capacitors. You might have to ask support for which capacitors they use there.
However this is more a job for a repair shop specialized in PCB repair.
Most multimeters beep (in continuity mode) at around 150-200 ohms, and often the resistance will start low and increase to a non-short, and I’ve had power rails on laptops only measure 10-20 ohms to ground when working.
Without charger and with charger I have the short. However, I also disconnected the battery. I measure 0.2 Ohms, stable, so it is not the typical “capacitor” behaviour described by @Jonathan_Haas .
With the charger connected I also don’t measure the 17,4 Volt that should be there. But that might be due to the fact I disconnected the battery?! As “ground” I used the outside of a USB connector as I simply assumed the ground is common…
Would be great if you could measure if you see a short across the capacitor as well.
In my case I disconnected battery as well as the replacement module.
I’ll check that and check for voltage as well. Honestly, I probably won’t pull the module out of the holder, because it was a REALLY tight fit and I don’t want to push my luck at breaking the holder. But I’ll disconnect the battery.
Edit: I’ve got a lot going on today, so it will probably be this evening.
I take anything 
if you take measurements with module installed, I’ll re-install mine. Thanks
No problem. Sorry for the late response. I did take all the following measurements with the module installed.
From the right side of the capacitor (where the wire for the battery replacement module gets soldered) to ground, 8-ish Meg. Ohms. From the left side of the capacitor to ground, 0.3 Ohms. Across the capacitor, 8-ish Meg. Ohms. So it definitely sounds like you have a shorted capacitor. Is it possible that there is just some stray solder bridging the gap? Probably not, since it worked temporarily, but worth checking for.
With the battery connected, no charger, I get 16.8V on the right side of the capacitor (where the wire from the module is connected). With the battery disconnected and the charger plugged in I get 17.6V.
Thank you! That is very helpful! Guess I’ll try to find a board level repair. Problem is that most only repair Apple.
The guy that developed the calibration device for the angle sensor is actually quite close.
Unfortunately my search for a board level repair has not really been successful. They all seem to focus on Apple.
I managed to de-solder the capacitor in question. Unfortunately the short remains. Seems like something else broke. Whatever it was, might have also killed the battery. I measure zero volts across BAT+ and GND.
I guess that is what must have happened: the KVM drained the battery to zero and when I then put the charger on the current was so high something broke (maybe the charging chip?). But better a chip than the battery exploding. Don’t think I should use that one again. Then again, I would assume that the charging chip also prevents the battery from being discharged too low.
Well I just finished doing it myself. Definitely broke part of my battery holder but it seems to be working anyway. Don’t know if I’m going to drown it in epoxy or hope that the shattered remains continue holding the fake battery in place. That circuit board needs to be smaller.
Edit: found someone on reddit who identified the part for the battery holder so now I have a third option: replace the battery holder.
welp, my laptop is dead. The pads for the RTC holder have come off. This has been, by a significant margin, the shortest lived laptop I’ve ever owned. On top of that, one of the threaded inserts for the motherboard came out, which means it survived literally only 1 motherboard removal.
Hello @Tom1,
If you broke the RTC cradle, our repair center can send you a replacement to solder on. Simply contact support and let them know what happened, and that you were directed to ask for one.
Thanks.
Thanks, but that won’t help. The pads have come off the motherboard: What Are PCB Pads? What Are Their Functions?
Did you apply too much heat for too long or pull on the cradle? It’s possible to fix pads by using a piece of wire and scratching layers of the PCB to expose the traces.
For reference:
Too much heat. This was my 3rd attempt at soldering the connector (each time before the laptop would flash some LED pattern with a bunch of red some green or blue and I swear I saw orange in there) so I’m sure the repeated attempts weren’t kind to it.
Repairing the damaged pad is beyond my ability. I’d have to seek a professional, which raises the question: when do I cut my losses and stop sinking money into a known-defective product.
depends on what you consider to be the “laptop” while it is true that the RTC holder and pad have led to a damaged mainboard, all the other parts of the “laptop” are perfectly fine, and Framework now has three other mainboards that can be dropped into that space. while one of your threaded inserts came out (same thing happened to me when I replaced my mainboard with the AMD one) there are still four other threaded inserts that will be able to hold a new mainboard. If you want to cut your losses and buy a different computer, so be it, but if you were to sell the shell or the mainboard to someone else, all those parts are a long way from being completely useless.
That said, I am sorry for your less than perfect experience. Buying into a product like this at the early stages is rough, and I hope that even if the experience isn’t the best for you, that the parts you bought can go on to be used to their fullest in the future!
There are 3 practical resolutions I see: A) Attempt to repair the damage by yourself B) Sell laptop and cut your losses C) Buy a replacement mainboard to put in. If you decide you want to sell the laptop as it is, then you shouldn’t attempt the repair. If you decide to buy a replacement mainboard, I think it’s worth the attempt to fix it. If it work’s, you now have a functional mainboard that you could use as a mini pc. If you fail, it’s a learning experience.
Send a photo of the damage and maybe the community can offer some input on the difficulty of the repair.
For example (timestamped):
If you want it taken off your hands I’m happy to do so!
Sounds like @Josh_Cook may be willing to but it from you. Depending on how much you want for it (and the logistics of shipping, etc., since I don’t know where you live), I may be interested as well.
So if you decide not to get a new mainboard, you could likely sell the laptop as-is to someone in this community.
Either way, sorry this replacement RTC module didn’t work out for you. For anyone else looking to do this rework, consider the risk and weigh that against just getting a couple spare RTC batteries.