Flash site play all frames without stopping

Question

Hi all,
I'm just getting back into flash and have forgotten most of
what I knew. I've been handed a file and need to figure out how to
proceed to address this issue:
The file is a full website. It's a fairly simple design with
a graphic and some buttons. When you click one of the buttons, the
main graphic changes to content for that 'page'.
The problem is when the file is published it just plays every
layer/frame in it and loops as well. It should display the key
'home page' elements (buttons/main graphic) and then stop and wait
for a button to be clicked before running the code for that button.
I think maybe it needs a stop action on the first frame, but
in CS3 (or probably any version now, but that's what I'm using) I
can't figure out how to check to see what actions are on a frame,
and I apparently don't know how to add a stop action effectively to
the first frame.
The file has an 'actions' layer, but if I click the first
frame of that layer (which appears to have an action attached to
it), I don't see any action. If I add a stop action, then publish,
the file DOES stop like it should, but then none of the buttons
work.
Does it sound like I need to insert a frame BERFORE the first
frame, and then add the stop action to that? In other words, could
it be the case that I'm putting the stop action on the first frame,
and the button layers operate (begin) on that first frame as well
such that when I click on a button it fires the stop action I setup
to stop the entire site file from playing?
Is there any other setting/issue that might cause a file
designed as I've described (simple website with buttons) to run
through all the content without ever stopping and waiting for
input?
If someone could just point me in the right direction, I
think I'll be fine. I might need to rearrange some of the layers so
they don't start on the first frame...so maybe that's it?
I know this is simple and I hate asking, but I have to get
this done quickly...
thanks for any help,
DB

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply, r_c,
I really appreciate your response. In an indirect way, it may
have at least helped me figured out the 'what happened' part.
I went back into the file and, just for the heck of it, was
going to add stop actions to every frame on the actions bar. During
that process I saw (for about the forth time) some comment code in
the actions window that I had sort of assumed was just there by
default (what was I thinking?). The comment said something like
'actions would NOT be exported in files in the unregistered
version'. In retrospect (and after a few slices of pizza), that
explains why there are lots of frames with the action symbol but
when I open the frame's action window no actions are there (just
the comment). I think whoever tried to modify this file tried to do
it with the trial download and then saved the file and the process
basically wiped out all the actions in the file :/ So I have a
flash site now with all th code missing.
That being the case (at least I'm pretty confident it is),
I'm going back to the guy tomorrow at work and tell him that, if he
(or his subordinate) was dumb enough to copy over the original file
instead of working on a copy then, at best, I MIGHT be able to
rework the thing by Tuesday (after the long weekend) to add back
all the necessary actions to have it functioning again.
That (process) will be kind of good review for me and,
besides, it might be easier essentially starting over than it would
be to try and follow someone else's setup all the way down to the
point where it's messed up....if that makes any sense. Plus, I can
rename all the layers instead of looking at 90 layers named 'layer
1', 'layer 2', etc etc...and then have the code use the descriptive
names.
Anyway, I do really appreciate the response. It helped me
find enough of an answer to know how to proceed from here, which is
the best I could have hoped for given my fairly vague description
of the situation to begin with.
Thanks again,
DB