C Programming- Malloc/Free

Question

So I have a code and when I run it, it hangs when I enter a size greater than 3. When it's exactly 3 it runs smoothly. I narrowed down the problem to malloc and free and I don't know what the problem is. I'm new at this so any help is appreciated.

do  //repeatedly ask the user to put a number between 3-9
{ 
 printf("Enter the size of the game board between 3-9: ");
 scanf("%d", &size);
}while(size<3 || size>9);

if((board = (char***)malloc(sizeof(char**)*size))==NULL)
  printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");
  for(i=0; i<size; i++)
  {
    if((board[i] = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char*)*size))==NULL)
     printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");
     for(j=0; j<size; j++)
     {
       if((board[i][j] = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*4))==NULL)  
         printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");
         strcpy(board[i][j], "Go");
     }   
 } 
/*************Some random code ***********/ 

free(board);
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
{
 free(board[i]);
 for(j=0;j<size;j++)
   free(board[i][j]);
}

Answer 1

The problem is you access board after you freed it. You should release memory in exactly the reverse order that you malloc it.

An alternative approach is that you can allocate all the memory you need in a whole, like

 char ***board = NULL;
 char  **rows  = NULL;
 char   *data  = NULL;

 if((board = (char***)malloc(sizeof(char**)*size))==NULL)
  printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");
 if((rows = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char*)*size*size))==NULL)
     printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");
 if((data = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*size*size*4))==NULL)  
     printf("Memory Allocation failed\n");

 for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
     int board_offset = i * size;
     board[i] = rows[board_offset];
     for (j = 0; j < size; j++) {
         int row_offset = board_offset + j;
         rows[row_offset] = data[row_offset * 4]；
         stcpy(data[row_offset * 4], "GO");
     }
 }

 free(board);
 free(rows);
 free(data);