Missing or corrupt file HELP

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hi
I recently installed a new 40GB Seagate hard disk and 2 X 256MB RAM on my
laptop. When I switched on today my wireless card suddenly begun to have a
really bad connection, I switched to another account and the connection was
perfect, I then logged back into the original account and the connection was
bad again I then accidently knocked the laptop very very slightly on the
table then the screen went black!! I turned off then restarted now I get the
message:

"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 1st screen to repair"

the trouble is I don't think I have a setup disk as this is a Toshiba
Satellite, I have a product recovery CD-ROM but I think this can only
restore an image of the original installation? One idea I have is that I
still have my old drive with XP on it, could I replace this drive with the
new one and place the new drive in a caddy, connect this via USB, retrieve
my important files, and replace the broken file with the file on the old
drive??

Thanks, Will