Hi!
I have the exactly same problem, but for me, it is enough to jam the game when you get any unit anywhere on the top side of the map (one unit from the border). After this happens, you will hear "boink"-sound, and the game jams. Windows gives you some kind of memory error.
Before I aplied the "compatibility mode for win95", C&C didn't even start to run. It gave the same error message I mentioned when I tried to start it.
Now, what would be the "core of the problem" ( :lol: ) and what could be done to fix it? I don't really know! I have tried all the settings found under "compatibility"-tab in the C&C.exe properties, no effect whatsoever.
I also have tried to patch the game with equally poor effects.
Only solution I see this far is to install win 95 with some kind of multiboot, so you could run either winXP or win95.