I have however had a similar problem in Batman Arkham asylum were the game will freeze and I have to alt tab out and back in in order for it to keep playing again, but even this runs smoothly otherwise. I haven't had trouble with my computer playing other games such as Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Witcher 2. When I turn the graphics down, the game runs smoother and takes longer to do the same black screen freezing. The game runs pretty smoothly on medium graphics (25-30fps). Please be advised that after patching with the application I mentioned here the loading screens will be displayed, you will hear the GTA-IV theme tune wherein the screen will then go black for about one minute and then the Rockstar Games Social Club loading screen will appear. After a few of these freezes (which happen in pretty rapid succession), the game will just go to the black screen and the audio will keep playing but it will just stay like that and I am forced toe alt+ctrl+del to exit the game. The audio keeps going, but the screen is black for a few seconds before the game starts running again. But when I am playing the game, within a few minutes of playing it starts to freeze and going to a black screen for a few seconds. I just bought GTA4 and have been trying to play it on my laptop.
