In your original post you describe an open (non conductive) situation with ground and neutral...and a closed (conductive) between hot and ground... this is opposite of what should be the case... neutral and ground can be conductive or bolted directly together. Black (hot) needs to be by itself...looking for an appliance to run through and find the neutral it wants and needs to complete a circuit... if hot shows conductive to ground... you have a direct short which must be eliminated... if this post followed the end plug repair... reversing hot with neutral should square you away...