Im having a problem with windows xp please help?

when i use windows media player to listen to music or to watch videos after a few minutes the computer says preparing to hibernate and then a blue screen pops up with the message windows has encountered a problem and needs to be shut down to prevent damage done to your computer and then my computer goes completely unresponsive i cant even use the power on to turn it off i gotta take the battery out of my laptop is there any freeware or some kind of remedy i can find online because im flat broke and cant take my laptop to a shop to have it looked at