Quote Originally Posted by dragons_fire View Post
1.036kohm across vdd and vss "with" and "without" the chip. i tried another regulator that isnt mounted to anything, and it comes back with the same reading.
1-ish Kohm... hmmmm...no dead shorts. Something is turned on by the PIC.

5V without chip, 4.48V with chip
Something's loading it down! Try disconnecting the motors? Try disconnecting and unsoldering stuff until you find the 'leak'. Maybe change your program a bit to make absolutely sure nothing is being driven for X seconds before something starts to happen.?.?

when i put my meter on the doide symbol (i have never used it before and dont know what it is), i get .324V without any power applied to the board (im assuming there isnt supposed to be)
Try this with the 'diode' symbol on the meter. Hook the meter up to a plain ol' diode, 1N4148, whatever you've got handy. Whatever the meter reads (within range of course) is what the forward voltage drop of the diode is and if the meter leads are connected correctly. The datasheets on the diode will tell you what the nominal values are. You can also use this function to correctly identify leads on a transistor.