Sims Can't Take Action & CD won't load holiday

[tiffyrae]

I just installed The Sims 2 Holiday Edition (but I haven't even added the holiday CD yet). I was able to build a house on a lot and create a Sim to move into the home but when I go live, she can't act on anything.

For instance, if I click on the newspaper, I see a quick flash on the screen of things she could choose to do, but it isn't staying up long enough for me to choose "read the paper" etc.
Please help.

Also, second problem: The CDs for 1-4 of the Sims 2 all installed perfectly. When I put the Holiday CD into my D drive, it sounds like it's running, but nothing happens. So I clicked Run and then D:\setup.exe but it says to put a disc into the drive. It's already there! Why don't I have this problem with any other CDs?
I'm so aggravated. I wanted to play this so bad! lol
tiff :)

[julianarosalia]

First you're going to backup your entire My Docs/EA Games/Sims2 folder. Then go through the steps in this faq so we can try and figure out what's wrong with your game. http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139718

As for your Holiday cd not working, make sure it's clean (free of smudges). Also, see if other disks are still working correctly. Please let us know how both things go.

[simsample]

Here's some detail:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=813428