Almost had a heart attack! My laptop froze today! it came back with this message:
Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
Setup using the original Setup CD- ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

And i did not have the installer! I never received the installer when i got the laptop shipped to me ! Now what? so i went and borrowed the Win XP Pro installer from my neigbor, the web developer. Meanwhile i also searched online for this problem and its solution and came up with someone who faced the exact same thing... and with... a Toshiba laptop at that! [eerie X-Files theme plays at the back].

Being the impatient bloke that i am, i read a bit and saw the message board people saying something about "Repair" and thats what windows told me to do as well... so i loaded up the pro installer and ended up in the first menu and pressed "r" for repair. Some stuff happened and asked me to type "Exit" to reboot. Well, it didn't work. After twice of thrice of the same thing, I thought i should re-read the message board. And then i discover this link:
www.michaelstevenstech.com
There i found written in bold and all caps, and in RED, to not do what i just had done for "n" times! : )

Then following the instructions on that page i went on to install the Pro version. I was mad to see that the installer did not detect that i had windows on it! according to the webpage i was supposed to see a "Repair" command after i pursue installation. Instead, all i got was the list of partitions I had. So i thot, Maybe i wil overwrite the Home version... and pressed enter! Here they only said i had another OS already (not XP, not Windows.. another OS!!! how smart is that?). Then i fell into doubt whether this "overwrite" idea will work. I called up cuz Faisal who did "n" number of windows installations at his previous job as a computer salesman, and he told me he'd never seen overwriting as yet. :)hmmm.. heartbroken i took out the CD to return to my neighbor and then it happened! The screen saying Windows XP Home Edition came up and the Knight Rider styled lights which goes to show that your computer is working. Then came Checkdisk... then restarted and went into Windows! I am soooooo glad. Alhamdulillah.