Uploading to Uno r3 with serial

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

My arduino uno seems to have a dead usb to serial chip. I was wondering if I could use the RX/TX pins to program it using a serial port on my computer? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

You would need an RS232-to-TTL Serial conversion chip to do the level shifting.
OR
You can get an FTDI USB-to-TTL Serial cable for about $20.

3

Or you could use one of these cheap USB/Serial converters:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CP2102-USB-2-0-to-UART-TTL-6PIN-Module-Serial-Converter-/130683943875?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6d5ebbc3

4

Thanks, I found schematics for the rs232 to TTL conversion, and I have all the parts lying around, so I think I will just make one.