Help with using same buttons on timeline

Question

This is really basic,
I've got 3 buttons on the main timeline, which is 25 frames. All my actions are on frame 14.
Three buttons work on frame 15. But these same 3 buttons stop working on frame 17  - why?
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Answer 1

If your code is on frame 14 and your buttons are on frame 15, those buttons can't work unless they were on frame 14 first.  If you place new instances of these buttons on frame 17 but do not assign code for them, they will not work.  When you assign code to objects, such as buttons, they need to be present when that code executes.  So if you execute that code in frame 14, and the buttons are in frame 17, they are not present when that code executes so they cannot work.
What you may find easier to deal with might be to have the buttons span the timeline where they are needed, meaning they have a keyframe at frame 14 where they get coded, and that extends as far down the timeline as you know those buttons need to be accessible.  You do not create new keyframes of them.  Then, if you need to hide the buttons for any reason, then you hide them by setting their visible property to be false. And if you need to display them again, you set it to true.
There is not issue with having different buttons command the same thing, but if you are going to do that, then the different buttons should share the same function.  When I want to share a function or other code, such as variables, I always create a layer that I dedicate to the entire timeline.  It extends from frame 1 thru the last frame of the timeline.  All code on this layer is in frame 1. Any code on this layer is then accessible by anything along the timeline.  Then, as needed, I will have another actions layer that deals with frame level actions.
So what I would do in your case, if you want to use different instances of the same buttons, would be to have the shared layer hold my event handler functions.  Then in my frame level actions layer I would have keyframes where I have the buttons and assign my event listners in those frames.  So if I had identical buttons in frames 15 and 17, but they were different instances, then in frame 15 I would have the same event listener assignments as I do in frame 17.  These listeners would be calling on the same functions that I have in that shared actionscript layer.
// frame 15 code of frame level actions layer
stop();
btn1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go15);
btn2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go18);
btn3.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go19);
btn4.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go20);
btnb.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go15);
btnc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go17);
// frame 17 code of frame level actions layer
stop();
btn1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go15);
btn2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go18);
btn3.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go19);
btn4.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go20);
btnb.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go15);
btnc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,go17);
frame 1 of shared actionscript layer...
function go15(e:MouseEvent):void
gotoAndStop(15);
function go18(e:MouseEvent):void
gotoAndStop(18);
function go19(e:MouseEvent):void
gotoAndStop (19);
function go20(e:MouseEvent):void
gotoAndStop (20);
function go17(e:MouseEvent):void
gotoAndStop (17);