Clean install if Win ME

[Hoop]

1. What steps would I need to take to do a clean install if WIN ME?
2. Will I be able to format the "C" drive without an operating system?
3. If all the information I want to save is on the slave drive will this information be safe?

My "system.ini" file is messed up and the system will not boot up in normal mode. Tried system restore with no luck.
Thanks!

[Budfred]

1. Clean install meaning on a newly formatted drive: use a bootdisk (use one with CD support) to format the drive (get one at Bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com) if you don't already have one. Put the WinME CD in the drive and run Setup from DOS. Follow the prompts.

2. No, you can't format without an operating system, but the bootdisk contains the barebones DOS OS and that is all you need to reformat.

3. Your other hard drive should be fine unless you instruct DOS to do something to it. If you are worried, disconnect it or disable it in BIOS before you begin.

When I do a clean install of WinME I immediately clean out some of the extra garbage that installs by default to keep it more stable. You might want to check out Black Viper (http://www.blackviper.com/) for tips on how to do this.