Arduino busted. Want to help a lost soul to understand what part of it broke?

hey, i didnt initialize things as you said. i just got the hex file from the web, and i could hit run. After that i unplugged/plugged the arduino and i still couldn't communicate with it.
I've just found an atmega328p with the arduino bootloader in my city :smiley:
i should get my new chip on a few days, and then i'll try flashing the old 328p. If that won't work then i'll have to believe it's fried. Maybe the capacitor check wasn't so reliable, tomorrow ill buy some leds and i should know for sure.