MAX3232 overheating/burnt after connecting to PC
Just solved this overheating problem on a batch of max232 chips using a couple of resistors. See the input pins 10 and 11 http://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/interface/transceivers/MAX232.html  and click the picture to enlarge. There are supposed to be 400k resistors internally but measuring the resistance to pin 16, I got 40 megohms on this batch. So these pins will be floating and picking up RF and oscillating at a high frequency which in turn will be drawing a lot of current and making the chip hot. I used a couple of 390k resistors as pullups, but anything from 10k to 400k would probably do. Might be worth adding 5K pulldowns on pins 13 and 8 too.