Last night I was playing the game, then I went and ate dinner, closing my laptop, but not exiting out of the game. I have done this many times but did not have this happen, however, I have had this issue before but I think the crash was a result of something that happened in-game. A small difference between last time and this time is: when it had the issue last it would only start, then crash before even going to the intro. This time, it will skip the intro then go to the loading menu, move 2 bars then quit responding and/or crash. I fixed this last time by re-installing the disc I use which is Mansion & Garden, but was told this is not the right answer, so this time I tried clearing all cache, but that did not fix the issue. I also tested the game on another account and had the same issue.

So basically you saved, paused your game then shut your lap top down with the game still running? Really not a good idea. I would always save then exit the game. Not even save on exit since that is also risky. Sounds like something corrupted. You could try forcing the game to make a new sims 2 folder. Simply rename your folder and try loading the game. if that doesn't work then yes it might be a reinstall. In future you want to save, then exit.