A friend of mine sent these instructions, and I'm ever greatful to him. Hope this helps someone who had the same problem I did.
First of all, backup all crucial non-Windows data. That includes your mail program data, text and image files and anything else you can't reinstall from a CD later. Everything on the drive will be destroyed during this process.
Now find the boot disk you got with your Windows Me installation CD. If you want you can make a new disk as follows.
Go to START/Settings then Control Panel and double click Add/Remove Programs, then select the Startup Disk tab. Put a floppy in your floppy drive and click Create Disk. A boot disk will be made for you. This will take three to five minutes.
Restart your computer, and hit F2 to into BIOS mode. Once there, go to Boot Sequence. Make sure only diskette is checked. To uncheck the others, simply use the arrow keys to highlight them and hit the space bar. Now hit the escape key, hit it again, choose the option Save Changes and Exit.
With the boot disk in the floppy drive, restart the machine. You will be presented with four options:
* Help
* Start with CD-ROM support
* Start without CD-ROM support
* Minimal Boot
Choose "Start with CD-ROM support" and wait for the machine to go through the start-up process. Once the A: prompt appears type: "a:format c:" and hit enter. (Note to veterans: the /s command is no longer necessary and is not supported under Windows Me).
The system will reformat the drive and then display the amount of free space. It will also prompt you to enter a volume label, which is the name of the hard disk. Enter anything you like or simply hit the return or enter key for none.
On most systems the hard drive will be "C" and the CD-ROM drive will be "D". If there's a partition, the CD-ROM drive will likely be "E".
Now your hard drive is ready for a new copy of Windows ME. Put the Windows Me install CD in the CD-ROM drive and type "x:setup" where X is the CD-ROM's drive letter. It is probably "D".
NOTE: Make sure you leave the floppy in the drive until Windows tells you to remove it.
Windows Me will then run the Scandisk utility on your hard drive to check for errors. Once done, click "exit" and let the rest of the install proceed. Keep your "Product Key" handy (that's the massive code on the back of the CD sleeve) as you'll have to input that before the installation proceeds. Upgrade copies of the Windows Me require a previous version of Windows handy because the system will ask for it to verify you eligible to install the upgrade. When prompt you'll have to put it into either the floppy or CD drive for verification, depending on which operating system you are upgrading from.
Once you are done, you will need to restart and hit F2 to go back into BIOS mode. Go to Boot Sequence, and check all three areas. Hit the escape key, hit it again, choose Save Changes and Exit.
Be aware that there are three possible Windows Me products. A full version requires no previous software verification. A Windows 95 upgrade (about $169) requires the insertion of a Windows 95 disk or CD during the upgrade process. The upgrade for Windows 98 (about $85) requires the Win 98 CD.
The rest of the installation is pretty much straightforward. Follow the prompts until the process finishes. You will be prompted to restart. Make sure you remove the floppy disk from the floppy drive and put it in a safe place. Also be sure to keep the previous Windows CD with the upgrade package so you can verify you own it in the event of any future reinstalls.