Cheryl, he mentioned that he's using OS 9. To run a disk repair, it would have to be Disk First Aid.
That said, Nightman, Have you checked the Energy Saver settings and set them to "Never?" I have a feeling this might be the cause of your problems.
Also, listen closely to the hard drive and try to hear for a repetitive sound. If you keep getting a weird repetitive sound from the hard drive, then it could be that it's about to fail. Backup all your files immediately and replace the drive before it deteriorates any further.
Have you also tried booting with Extensions Disabled to see if it still crashes? After you hear the Macintosh startup chime, hold down the Shift key until you see the message "Extensions Disabled." Leave it on and see if it does the same thing. If not, then it could be an extension or a control panel that's causing the freeze.
By the way, what exact version of OS 9 are you running? I remember there being issues with OS 9.0, but what they were I don't remember exactly. You might want to upgrade to 9.0.4, or take it even further and upgrade to 9.2.2. You'll first have to upgrade to 9.1, then to 9.2.1, and then to 9.2.2. Yes, it's a bit of a pain, but it would probably be worth it.
Good luck!