ESP32 Devkit voltage regulator heating, board not working

[heikkiw]

Hello ,
I have few ESP32 devkitc V4 boards that get no power when connected to USB, the LD1117 regulator is overheating.
I have read that the board can be powered either via USB or via regulated 3.3v in 3v3 pin, but they cannot be connected simultaneusly.
However when developing my project the board is attached to my custom PC via 3v3 pin, but also to USB when downloading my prog.
This situation has damaged my boards (and also some TTGO boards and XIAO ESP32 boards).
So my question is: is there away to repair the devkitc boards ? My idea is to power the board via PCB 3.3v regulator and cut the + wire from the USB cable.
I measured that there is a shortcut in the voltage requlator between GND and VOUT pins, so I desoldered LD1117 to remove it completedly. However there is still shortcut between GND and 3v3 pins, so I cannot connect voltage there.
Can I remove(desolder) something else from the board to power the processor again ?

[ESP_Sprite]

Until you know what's shorting the 3.3V line to ground, I don't think there's much you can do. One way to find it would be to power the board by injecting 3.3V and then finding which component gets warm. If it's not immediately obvious, dump some IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not the beer) over the board and see where it evaporates really fast.