Kevin,
I came across this exchange when researching a broadly similar problem. The Windows maintenance dialog box asked to update the graphics driver. I did so, went through the install process, but on restart the update seems to have hung. The screen just gives the "Keep your PC on until this is done | Installing update 1 of 1" message. It has been doing this for well over an hour. Even though I was reluctant, I tried the on/off button anyway to see if that would shake it out of the hang, (only for a short time) but it just comes back on where it was, on that screen with the revolving dots.
System details:
Intel(r) HD Graphics 4000
ASUS F550C Laptop
CPU: Intel Core i7 - 3537U, 2.0 GHz, 4gb memory
NVIDIA GEFORCE 720m
Win8 (can't tell/recall whether this has updated to 8.1, can't get the computer to start-up to check)
Anything I might try to break this out of its hang?
Martin