Because nobody was able to help, i have found the solution myself, i will post it, for the troubled soul that may run into this problem in the future.
The reason half life kept freezing is because i downloaded an elite combine skin from FPS banana. the skin was corrupt, and in so doing caused...
wait, that's wrong, that's my laptop (half-life 2 doesn't run on that for another reason. Here are the specs for the computer i am inquiring:
Compaq Presario Desktop
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40 ghz x2 with Hyper threadingn
2.00 GB of Ram
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP with 128MB Video Memory
System Specs:
Sony VAIO VGN-FW480J Laptop
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 2.00 Ghz x2 P7350
6.00GB of RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 HD 512MB Dedicated Video Memory
Direct X 9.0C +
Half-Life 2 keeps crashing on both of my computers. i tried to register in Steam but its pretty shocking how impossible that is, no normal human being can possibly look at their security images, and then it just keeps giving me the "You did not enter the correct format for the Steam Community...