Loading bar issues

Hello, I am new to flash and posting on forums…but I am going nuts trying to figure out how to get my loading bar to function properly.

On my site i have a slide show on the intro page…but the site takes a bit longer to load than the slide show plays for. What I am trying to do is have the loading bar appear at the beginning of the slide show and continue loading even though the slide show has stopped.

On frame 1 i have my loading bar and dynamic text box.

Then on frame 5 I have entered the following action script:

var loadedbytes=_root.getBytesLoaded();
var totalbytes=_root.getBytesTotal();
if(loadedbytes < totalbytes){
var percentageloaded=int((loadedbytes/totalbytes)*100);
_root.loader._xscale=percentageloaded;

}else{
gotoAndPlay(“begin_movie”)
}

before the “begin_movie” frame I have a key frame that has a stop action on it…with the intention of holding the movie here until the loading bar reaches 100%…

am I totally off the mark on what I should be doing?

you can go to my site: www.essentialimages.us and see how messed up it is…

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!