dos problemos here

hey i just recently did the system update (the one where the 5 minute timer pops up and is really annoying until you finally update, not sure what its called exactly) and now my inspiron 600m is stuck on the "do not turn off or unplug your computer" and "installing update 1 of 1" screen for about 45 minutes now. any ideas on whats happening? i dont want to force shut down my laptop lol.

also, when i download videos off of megaupload, they never work. its either a sound file w/ no video or vice versa. i downloaded VLC media player and that generally plays the opposite of what windows media player plays. technically i could watch the video on WMP and play the audio in VLC but its pretty much impossible to get them both coordinated well. im guessing it has something to do with codec because WMP says "aquiring codec" on the bottom left when i try to play the megaupload vids. this doesn't happen with normal videos. any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

I would wait for a little longer, definitely until about 2 hrs.

 

Do you remember what update it was for?

Give K-Lite Mega Codec pack a go for videos

 

nahh all i remember is that it was a system update and about every 20 minutes a box would pop up with a progress bar counting down from 5 minutes where you could either let it run out and the computer restarts and updates, restart now and update, or restart later and the box goes away. also, when you go to start>turn off computer the button for "turn off" has a symbol under it, not sure what it was exactly i wasn't paying attention because the previous updates worked. i have xp by the way

EDIT: still "updating", something is probably wrong now

 

The other day windows 3.1 crashed on me. I'm thinking of going back to DOS, should I?

 

umm no idea talin. its still updating should i just force shut down now? its been 3.5 hours

 

I'd force shut it down.
3.5 hours?

 

yeah its starting to get ridiculous. also, i saw in a different thread something about taking the battery out of a laptop if you have it plugged in constantly. whats the advantage of this? does the battery wear out or something if its constantly being recharged?

 

Well, if you are constantly plugging in & unplugging the charger, it can.

 

But what's the point of buying a battery then? I'd say a new battery every a year and a half, that should be between $100-$200, is worth it. Maybe even less if you can find a good deal.