this is just to update you all on my previous posts and to also say thank you guys for sticking with me.
1) dvd bad block....yes i got the damn thing working again. it was as simple as just buying a new dvd device to replace the original one. apparently the lens had gone bad which i find strange because this notebook is barely two years old....anyway
2) i've finally downloaded the right broadcom lan driver for the netlink gigabit ethernet controller from the acer download site. it was all my fault to begin with by downloading and attempting to install the wrong driver....what else is new huh....anyway all is well now. no more "other devices" in device manager.