when i was logging out of my contact category from my joomla administrator, i got the following error message, and now i can't use my contact form (getting a 404 error):

DB function failed with error number 1146
Table 'mywesbite_mamb1.jos_contacts' doesn't exist SQL=SELECT c.*, c.checked_out as checked_out_contact_category, g.name AS groupname, u.name AS editor,COUNT( DISTINCT s2.checked_out ) AS checked_out FROM jos_categories AS c LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u ON u.id = c.checked_out LEFT JOIN jos_groups AS g ON g.id = c.access LEFT JOIN jos_contacts AS s2 ON s2.catid = c.id AND s2.checked_out > 0 WHERE c.section = 'com_contacts' AND c.published != -2 GROUP BY c.id ORDER BY c.ordering, c.name LIMIT 0, 30

any ideas?

Maybe try system >global checkin
probably not but once in a million years you get lucky and something that simple works...

I guess I'd go look at the database and see if the table really does exist (I use phpMyAdmin for such tasks but however you access the database directly) and if it does, persist in seeking a solution here.  If it doesn't exist, create it.  I'm still using Mambo 4.5.2.3 but I'm sure someone here will post the structure from jos_contacts if you need to create the table from scratch.

This issue is submitted as bug and should be fixed in 1.0.4

http://developer.joomla.org/sf/go/artf2079?nav=1