Jim is probably correct about most everything, but I believe you can
install either version (original or upgrade) "cleanly," ie, as a new OS -
we did. The only restriction is that you must own an original/upgrade
version of Windows 9x which you can insert into your CD when asked by the
WinME install program.

On Tue, 27 Mar 2001 07:16:00 -0500 Hal Trachtenberg <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> --- Jim Hodges <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Richard wrote
> >
> > >I was wondering if you guys could help me install
> > my Win ME. It freezes up
> > >in the beginning (when it's transfering the data to
> > the HD at 2% in the
> > >lower left bar). I got a A7V Mobo (with 1007
> > bios)and ATA100 disabled,
> > >Stealth S540 ( by Diamond 32Mb AGP 4x), Quantum
> > Fireball as Primary Master
> > >IDE (40 Gb 7200 rpm), Creative CD-Rom as Secondary
> > Master (52x IDE). I used
> > >FDISK (1 whole active partition only) and format c:
> > /s (using Win 98 boot
> > >disk, since the Win ME gives no more support to
> > format - it says so when I
> > >try...) as try to install the OS, it simply
> > freezes(???).
> > >I've somewhere that the Windows FDISK does not
> > support HD bigger than 30
> > >Gb. Is it true?
> > >Please lend me a hand, I would really appreciate a
> > lot. Thanx
>
> Are you using the upgrade version of ME or the full
> version? If you are using the full version it is
> recommended that you do a clean install, which means
> formatting the hard drive, although you can still
> probably get away with installing the full version
> over win98 and it would probably be less of a problem
> installing over 98SE, but in my experience I found ME
> to be more stable when installed cleanly. If you only
> have the upgrade version, you have to install it over
> 98 or 98SE. What you might want to try, if you haven't
> already, and if you are going to install the full ME,
> is to reformat the hard drive without the /s command,
> as ME might have a problem installing on a HDD that is
> formatted this way.

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