You might be making things hard on yourself

Try this:

Leave the theme zipped. In the admin area for Joomla 1.5 goto extensions>install/uninstall.

Click browse and find the zipped theme on your computer, select it and then click install/uninstall. That should do it.

If you've already tried that or it does not work, goto Extension>Template Manger. You should see the templates you uploaded listed there. Click the radio button next to the one you want to use and then click the Default button with the big star.

If none of that works, try going to Help>System Info>Directory Permissions and make sure that everything listed is Writable.

Another thing, all of the templates listed in the Joomla Download section are only compatible with Joomla 1.5. I have a couple people helping to move the templates from the old download section to the new one, which was recently overhauled. The older Joomla templates haven't been moved yet.

You may be using Joomla 1.0.13 and in that case the templates in the Downloads area won't work. To find Joomla 1.0x templates you can temporarily use the Gallery section until they are all moved:

http://themebot.com/gallery/?g2_itemId=31452

I am not using Joomla 1.5 : (

I will get that installed and go from there. Thanks for all of your input!