Forgive my noobiness. I'm using Bitcoin-Qt on a netbook that is left off most of the time, so whenever I make a transaction I have to wait for the blockchain to catch up. Now it's no longer downloading new blocks. So, when I scroll over the spinning icon in the lower right it says, "Downloaded 199935 of X blocks of transaction history." X keeps going up, but 199935 hasn't moved in days.

I already downloading the latest version of the client. The update was successful but the problem persists. I tried transferring a small amount to a new wallet, but it doesn't appear that that the transaction is collecting confirmations.

I thought I better ask before I complicate the problem any more. I found some similar threads on the forum, but the solutions were too technical for me to understand. Is there anyone with the patience to deal with my ignorance who can help?