i'm running the exact same config as i have done for a long time and that is with XP
i can't see any pattern, audio on off doe's not matter..i often can see when it's going to crash, mc sort of times out..and then it dies...but it can also be a "quick death"..i have disable my plugins no difference
there was a fix in .46 for crashes, i have the feeleing it got a little bit better, before that the crashed were more frequent..
the only thing i know is that running 39 does not crash. MC has not crashed for me since the backarrow issue in MC 14