I already have DirectX 9.0 I've uninstalled it and reinstalled it. When I tried changing the directx controls, the game ran normally - for about 5 seconds. (By far the longest to date) Then it went right back to the freezing up. :-(

I'll mention that there doesn't appear to be any graphical problems - the screens and graphics appear quite normal. The screen just suddenly freezes for maybe 10 seconds, and then runs for a second, and freezes up again (though the game clock appears to still be running, since it advances each time it starts running)