On 7 Nov, 20:40, "robb" wrote:
....

i am a bit perturbed by this event and am not looking forward to
removing all ICs and then i have to worry with ROMs too

although i am an amateur i understand your point. but, i do not
realize the significance due to my lack of experience

so 73 Ohms is not a short where 0 Ohms would be
but my amateur question would be... is 73 Ohms good value between
5V and 0v reference ? i had presumed not good


As someone else pointed out, 73 ohms at 5V means a static draw of 5/73
= (about) 68 mA, which for a digital circuit sounds reasonable imho.
It is definitely not a short. What's the fuse rating on the 5V rail?

Regards
Francesco