Age of Empires 2 screen freeze

I posted with this problem a few months ago but it's come up again. When I play Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors my screen freezes, but the sound still works. I can't get out of it with any alt tab ctrl alt del combo or anything, so I have to press the power button and turn off my computer. Updating my graphics drivers helps, but usually only for a few games. I've tried tweaking my screen resolution and refresh rate, but the resolution stuff hasn't helped, and my computer won't give me the option to change my refresh rate. I don't know if I'm missing something with drivers or screen properties, but I would like to be able to update my drivers and play for at least a dozen or so games before I have to update them again. I've also tried updating anti virus software and age of empires itself. The same thing happened when I was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, so I originally thought it was something with older games, but I've had it happen with Assassin's Creed, as well. The first time I posted, I was advised to update drivers, and, as I've mentioned, that works, but only for a time. I'm running Windows 7 64 bit edition on an HP Pavilion laptop, AMD Phenom II P920 Quad Core processor, AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card. My screen resolution is 1600x900 with a 60 Hz refresh rate. If there's any more information you need I would be happy to tell you, but that's about all I can think of right now. Thanks for your time.