rangua:
Ok then. I'll order a new arduino soon enough. It may take a while though until the board arrives.
In the meantime, i could try to get a boarduino up and running using my now war veteran 382p chip.
I'd rather not reflashing the arduino bootloader if it's not necessary.. should i still follow the Ducimilanove boarduino instructions or are there some uno board instructions around? does it make a difference for the bootloader?
You will not be able to complete and breadboard Arduino without a USB2UART like FTDI or Silicon Labs converter. While you are waiting you could try to reload the Atmega8u2 with FLIP. All you need is a 10k resistor and follow the DFU firmware update instructions.
http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/DFUProgramming8U2
I do not believe we are going to get away from re-flashing. There is no easy way to repair a bootloader other than a reflash. Don't worry, its simples. Nick Gammon has a fantastic programming sketch:
Here is a good tutorial on setting up an Arduino on a breadboard. We will use the Uno bootloader (just means it is small and fast compared to the Duemilanove bootloader).
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Tutorials/ArduinoBreadboard