soak your drive in warm soapy water for up to 1 hour...j/k j/k dont do that unless you want a new drive. there are directions all over the net on what to do
ill do a quicky search:
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/how-tos/reformat-reinstall-win98.shtml
this is for windows 98, but win ME is basicly the same as 98, but with a nicer looking UI
hope this helps.