StarCraft freezes after 1-5 minutes of playing

random2 · May 31, 2009

Hi.
I have problem with StarCraft 1.16.1 — it freezes after 1-5 minutes of playing. But system continue working (winamp plays ok). I even can't exit StarCraft, it not respond any keys and I have to press reset.
System: Windows 7 build 7100 with all updates from microsoft.

Does anybody know whats wrong with my StarCraft or Windows?

Wyodiver · May 31, 2009

Would need more info, system specs, vid card driver, etc.

random2 · May 31, 2009

processor: Athlon 64X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
memory: 2 Gb
video: Radeon X1600
1 try: Catalyst 9.1 driver for Windows Vista
2 try: integrated microsoft driver

event log clear when starcraft freezes

I saw the same problem on the blizzard forum but there are no solutions

Wyodiver · May 31, 2009

You did try compatibility mode, right? Starcraft is still a great game, but pretty old. I would still play it if I could up the resolution. Just looks horrible on my 1440x900 LCD.

ambientmf · May 31, 2009

Is it anything like the problem I've been having?
So far I've only had starcraft crash on me when I'm playing multiplayer over LAN (UDP) and I haven't been able to remedy the problem.

Mind you, my issue doesn't happen every game...I can successfully play a full hour-long LAN game at times, but some games I play for about 5 minutes and my whole system seizes up.
It seems like a similar behaviour to your problem...Programs running in the background continue to function but I'm unable to exit starcraft in any way (Alt+tab, Ctrl+alt+del, etc...) except a hard reset.

EDIT: I'm running SC with multiple compatibility options because of a common issue with the colors and Windows Vista/7.
Still having the same system crashes.

Clinton · Jun 5, 2009

Same thing exactly happens to me... Sometimes I can play full games and then it will randomly freeze completely without warning on another.

Mphw1 · Jul 31, 2009

I am having the same problem. I can play Starcraft for 5 min sometimes and other times it can be 45 min and then my whole system will just lock up. The only way to get out of the game is to do a manual reset.

elfus · Jul 31, 2009

Possible solution for Starcraft freezing on Windows 7

Hi, after searching on the web for a while seems I found the solution (at least for my problem) which seems to be pretty much the same problem you are having.

I am using Windows 7 Build 7100, Starcraft: BroodWar patch 1.16.1. Whenever I start Starcraft all the colors are messed up, the same description as above and when trying to play multiplayer on Battle.net SC gets frozen.... can't move the mouse pointer, music is still playing and works.. alt+tab won't work, ctrl+alt+delete won't work either, I have to shut down my computer by holding down the power button for several seconds....

Now let's go to the solution...

1. open notepad
2. type the following:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Starcraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

Where the 2nd line is your installation folder, which may vary depending on where you installed it, and yes you have to use the quotation marks or it won't work.

3. Save the file with the extension .bat (batch file) where you can find it easly.
4. Double click on it and play starcraft, this will close the explorer (explorer.exe) and reopen it when you close Starcraft.

You can still have other programs open like winamp, skype, whatever, it works for me....

I hope this solution works for you as it did for me, I just found it on the web (can't remember from all the sites I visited to solve this issue).

fireburn · Aug 2, 2009

a silly thing have you tried disabling aero .. i have not tried but in vista i had the same problem with a c&c ... the only way to make it work was to disable aero...

Mphw1 · Aug 3, 2009

elfus said:
Hi, after searching on the web for a while seems I found the solution (at least for my problem) which seems to be pretty much the same problem you are having.

I am using Windows 7 Build 7100, Starcraft: BroodWar patch 1.16.1. Whenever I start Starcraft all the colors are messed up, the same description as above and when trying to play multiplayer on Battle.net SC gets frozen.... can't move the mouse pointer, music is still playing and works.. alt+tab won't work, ctrl+alt+delete won't work either, I have to shut down my computer by holding down the power button for several seconds....

Now let's go to the solution...

1. open notepad
2. type the following:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Starcraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

Where the 2nd line is your installation folder, which may vary depending on where you installed it, and yes you have to use the quotation marks or it won't work.

3. Save the file with the extension .bat (batch file) where you can find it easly.
4. Double click on it and play starcraft, this will close the explorer (explorer.exe) and reopen it when you close Starcraft.

You can still have other programs open like winamp, skype, whatever, it works for me....

I hope this solution works for you as it did for me, I just found it on the web (can't remember from all the sites I visited to solve this issue).

I just wanted to say that this solution worked perfectly and on the first try. I've looked all over for a fix that was as simple as this one. Thanks!!

Damocles · Aug 18, 2009

Sorry, Doesnt work

Hi, after searching on the web for a while seems I found the solution (at least for my problem) which seems to be pretty much the same problem you are having.

I am using Windows 7 Build 7100, Starcraft: BroodWar patch 1.16.1. Whenever I start Starcraft all the colors are messed up, the same description as above and when trying to play multiplayer on Battle.net SC gets frozen.... can't move the mouse pointer, music is still playing and works.. alt+tab won't work, ctrl+alt+delete won't work either, I have to shut down my computer by holding down the power button for several seconds....

Now let's go to the solution...

1. open notepad
2. type the following:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Starcraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

Where the 2nd line is your installation folder, which may vary depending on where you installed it, and yes you have to use the quotation marks or it won't work.

3. Save the file with the extension .bat (batch file) where you can find it easly.
4. Double click on it and play starcraft, this will close the explorer (explorer.exe) and reopen it when you close Starcraft.

You can still have other programs open like winamp, skype, whatever, it works for me....

I hope this solution works for you as it did for me, I just found it on the web (can't remember from all the sites I visited to solve this issue).

This works great in Windows 7 for fixing the graphical glitches in the game under this OS, but unfortunately, this wont fix the freezing issue. I've tested and it isn't working with Windows RC 7100.

The freezing is fairly random, so I think the previous posters just haven't seen the issue crop up again for a few games, but it is still an issue.

themartian · Sep 5, 2009

Damocles said:
This works great in Windows 7 for fixing the graphical glitches in the game under this OS, but unfortunately, this wont fix the freezing issue. I've tested and it isn't working with Windows RC 7100.

The freezing is fairly random, so I think the previous posters just haven't seen the issue crop up again for a few games, but it is still an issue.

The colors are fixed most of the time, but the freezing is also there for sure.
grr.

bdegner3210 · Sep 12, 2009

elfus said:
Hi, after searching on the web for a while seems I found the solution (at least for my problem) which seems to be pretty much the same problem you are having.

I am using Windows 7 Build 7100, Starcraft: BroodWar patch 1.16.1. Whenever I start Starcraft all the colors are messed up, the same description as above and when trying to play multiplayer on Battle.net SC gets frozen.... can't move the mouse pointer, music is still playing and works.. alt+tab won't work, ctrl+alt+delete won't work either, I have to shut down my computer by holding down the power button for several seconds....

Now let's go to the solution...

1. open notepad
2. type the following:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Starcraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

Where the 2nd line is your installation folder, which may vary depending on where you installed it, and yes you have to use the quotation marks or it won't work.

3. Save the file with the extension .bat (batch file) where you can find it easly.
4. Double click on it and play starcraft, this will close the explorer (explorer.exe) and reopen it when you close Starcraft.

You can still have other programs open like winamp, skype, whatever, it works for me....

I hope this solution works for you as it did for me, I just found it on the web (can't remember from all the sites I visited to solve this issue).

This apparently worked for starcraft, thanks. However, I tried to make this program run AoE 2 expansion and it has trouble finding AoE 2. Any suggestions? I'll keep working on it.

bdegner3210 · Sep 12, 2009

Found a way to get AoE to work.

instead of typing -
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Empire"\"age2_x1.exe"
type -
cd C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Empire"
age2_x1.exe

i don't know why this works but it does

(note: remember where you stored the file might be a different name)

bdegner3210 · Sep 13, 2009

I spoke too soon. Neither starcraft nor AoE work when explorer is disabled. I'm going to bet there's a problem with the graphics card since the colors are all weird. I'll keep looking at this but I have no idea how to fix it.

KnowledgeWorker · Sep 16, 2009

Hi there,

I found the following in a forum post.
Please set your compatibility for your Starcraft.exe (shortcut) as follows.

*edit* It does still not to seem to work for me, but it is worth a try for you!

KnowledgeWorker · Sep 17, 2009

Another thing one could try is checking with "Safe Mode" and/or "Selective Startup".
Yet this probably won't track down the issue, just help when you really want to play.

Damocles · Sep 17, 2009

VM

The only real solution I've found to this problem is either using Windows 7 XP mode (which I cant use because I dont have a VT enabled processor), or using VMWare to run a virtual machine of XP and run SC within that. That 'sort of' works in exclusive mode. It will connect and allow you to play over b.net, but there are other issues with the graphics with that method. I've managed to play several games in that fashion though.

I hope to soon be able to test with a true windows 7 XP mode install, but until then, this will have to do.

Damocles · Sep 17, 2009

Hey, maybe this thread works, seems like a lot of confirmations - http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/2981-starcraft-fix-holy-cow.html

I wonder if it fixes the freezing issues. Will test and report back.

Black Macgyver · Sep 18, 2009

I've tried the vmware combination to run starcraft and it still locked the computer, but in a totally different way. This time I can move my mouse, but the keyboard is still locked, and there's a window popping up and the only way out as that window wouldn't close neither and just sat there, was a hard reset. I only did it once though so i don't know what are my luck this thing going to happen again.

StarCraft freezes after 1-5 minutes of playing

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