My character keeps freezing and it's getting worse

[Guest Sara]

I built my first computer this week and just got skyrim from steam. As I started my playthrough it ran beautifully, but when I got to the end of Bleak Falls Barrows I noticed my character would stop every few steps as though hitting a wall and I had to make him hop/jump around. I reloaded from a much earlier spot and it still kept happening until I finally restarted the computer. After restarting and reloading it will be fine at first, but within a couple of minutes the character will start freezing again. Sometimes I can get him to jump or move a few steps but last time I played he just stood there and wouldn't do anything at all, and when I tried to open my inventory/save options that froze up too. I just installed drivers for my mouse and keyboard but that hasn't helped either. Any idea how to fix this? It's making the game unplayable. Note: I do not have any mods installed, it's just the expansion pack.

[Buttons]

I think the answer may be in your first sentence. What's your graphics chip like? Sounds like a suspicious component to me.... Otherwise, you might want to buy the game on disc, rather than download. I've had nothing but problem when downloading data for games and updates.