EDIT : (topic subject)
Answer : SIX DAYS !! 
Below is the original post, and have now updated the situation in Reply #1
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1a. i have setup a Breadboard Arduino following Nick Gammon's guide here.
1b. A blank ATMega328 chip has been bootloaded successfully and confirmed detected using Nick Gammon's sketch.
Now, i got a cheap eBay USB-to-TTL-converter with the CH340G chip which has failed me so far, but that's for another topic.
the official Arduino pages describe a method where you remove the existing ATMega chip and then use the FTDI chip on the Uno board to program the Breadboard chip - i would like to avoid pulling chips off the Uno board as it's an original and i'd like to keep it as intact as possible.
...
i have since found this old thread; SOLVED:Sketches to breadboard-arduino..without removing the real Arduino's chip? - Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer - Arduino Forum and tried to use the solutions in it.
2a. i have tried the method in Reply #8 - using a sketch to bypass the TX/RX tricking them into being input pins for the breadboard chip.
(this is the serial-disable.ino that is used;
#define ledbrd 13
#define rxpin 0
#define txpin 1
void setup() {
pinMode(ledbrd, OUTPUT); // initialize digital pin 13 as an output.
Serial.end(); // disable the serial port to start using the tx and rx and input port
pinMode(rxpin, INPUT); //set the serial rx pin as general input
pinMode(txpin,INPUT); // set the serial tx pin as general input
}
// Very low duty cycle blink to indicate idle mode of UNO board
void loop() {
digitalWrite(ledbrd, HIGH); // turn the LED on
delay(1); // wait for a very short (minimum) time
digitalWrite(ledbrd, LOW); // turn the LED off
delay(4000); // wait for many seconds
}
)
that didn't work and i didn't consider investigating further as it seemed rather risky for the original chip.
2b. so i proceeded to try the method mentioned in Reply #7 (of same thread mentioned above) - it seemed much more comprehensive and was also better documented. (it's basically using the ArduinoISP as the programmer.)
suffice to say - it didn't work - i get the avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x[color=blue][b]e[/b][/color]0 error.
i followed on with the fuse change, editing the Extended Fuse in "boards.txt" from 0x05 to 0x07.
i even tried changing it to 0xFD because that's the value that shows up when i used Nick Gammon's Board_Detector sketch.
finally, i tried the "blocking the autoreset" with the 120 (actually 100+22) Ohm resistor b/n RESET and 5V and 10 uF capacitor b/n RESET and GND.
still no success but the error was now;
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x[color=blue][b]0[/b][/color]0
can anyone suggest what i can try next ?
