I don't think it's an issue with games hogging the CPU, because like I said, RTW:BI is old and doesn't take up that much.  Other, more CPU intensive games like Total War: Rome II run fine.  The problem strangely is occurring much more often in shooters.  Games always take up the most CPU when you play them anyways.

Either way, is there some way to figure out what's wrong?

Hello. You seem to think it is a problem with the audio. Wouldn't it more likely be a video issue?

I'm am not at all familiar with games, but I would try Task Manager and on the Process tab see which process is hogging the cpu when the laptop freezes.

I would start by using Task Manager to find out if a process is hogging 100% of the cpu at the time it freezes.

You might also post on the Microsoft Operating System section of the forum where they know more about Windows issues.

Can you open Task Manager before you start having the problem, then keep it on top while the program is running?

Unfortunately I can't check task manager because the whole computer freezes and doesn't respond to anything.

I'll try that while running it in a window.  I have to reinstall so I'll get back to you.

Ok, so when I was running it in a window I think I found the problem.  It wasn't the CPU (when it froze total CPU usage was 25%), the whole computer froze and a notification popped up on the bottom saying something about an NVIDIA kernel that stopped working, but recovered.  The computer unfroze at that point (which has happened before), so I'm assuming that when the whole computer freezes is when it does not recover.  I'm currently reinstalling my graphics driver, but is there anything else that might be causing this?

I think I found the problem.  It wasn't CPU usage (total usage was at about 25%).  However, when I was running in a window and my computer froze a notification popped up saying something about how the NVIDIA driver kernel stopped responding, but recovered (the computer unfroze at that point, which has happened before).  I'm assuming that when my computer stops working entirely the kernel does not recover.  I'm reinstalling the driver now, but is there anything else that might cause this?

EDIT: Tried again after reinstalling, the issue isn't fixed.

The specific messages that pop up say that the Intel Graphics Accelerator Driver and the Kernel Mode Drivers have stopped working, at which point they recover, and everything goes back to normal, or they don't recover, and I have to manually restart my computer.

Hey. Video problems are out of my area so you might want to post on the Laptop Video Board or the Microsoft OS board.

Having said that, my thoughts are: you have 2 graphics in your model, nVidia discrete graphics and Intel integrated graphics. The Intel is supposed to be for less graphics intensive situations because it requires less power which is important in a laptop to extend battery usage, and the discrete graphics are supposed to take over in intensive graphics situations like games. Make sure that nVidia is running when in games. There may be a power saving scheme or setting that allows the Intel to run all the time when on battery power.

That's all I got.

Thank you for your help, I posted in the video board.