thanks all,

after i executed the block of code (Phillip's) and refreshed my connection, i could open the properties of SQLSERVERAGENT, which prior to now had been greyed out(disabled).

As i went through each of the tabs, i realised i had mistakenly typed the server name in the "alias local host server" box in the connection tab. i deleted the entry and restarted the agent and it worked!!

i haven't sorted out the notification mailing though, but i'm glad scheduled jobs can run now.

thanks again