I think patching your virtual drives are still required. I myself tried unplugging my drives, but it was no use. You can only use the mini image to start the game (or the original cd, but I suppose you want to play without the cd). Try using different combinations of StarForce to start the game. When the checking starts and it takes too long then you shouldn't bother waiting for it to finish because when it detects the correct disk, it will start almost instantly (so you'll save plenty of time while you're testing). You might also try getting the latest StarFock. The latest version is 0.83, and they are going to release 0.9 soon. It might be possible, that StarFock isn't fully compatible with your hardware configuration, so might need to wait. Just make sure you're using the lastest D-Tools (3.47) or Alcohol 120% (1.9.2.1705) and StarFock (0.83). Don't use any of the emulations, it works fine without them.
About your computer crashing, well try running other games and if they don't crash, the source of the problem might be, that you are using one of the agressive patching methods.
Good Luck
