It appears I've hosed my mysql installation. Nothing is lost but I can't seem to get it to reinstall.

Originally I had 4.0.11 and messed that one up. So, I tried to remove it.... I thought that was successful, so I downloaded the latest and greatest so I could start over. 4.0.17 ran through the rpm and Voila'. It complains about 4.0.11 files. So, I go back and find the 4.011 rpm and reinstall and it complains about 4.0.17 files......

I try to rpm -e it and it says it isn't installed. So, I rpm -install it and it says it is already installed...

I'm smiling by now.

Anyway I can just nuke this and start over?

hello
try rpm -qa mysql .. maybe you'll find something.
if yes...then rpm -e <what you found>. try now the new mysql 4.0.17

hope it helped!