Oh well. I've come this far but i guess not further.
The 8u2 chip seems to be working fine, yet i can't communicate with the arduino. I think the 328p is really damaged, so ill have to find a way to flash the bootloader. If that won't work then it's really fried and i'll have to get another 328p chip.
Anyhow, I think i've accomplished the objective of this post. I've learned (at least i have a startpoint) to debug an arduino board, so thanks for all the help sp!! 