Problems with enabled method called from external swf

hello

I am working on a flash site consisting out of a main flash file in which external flash movies are loaded. Since it is a sliding menu srtucture I disable all first level nav-buttons during sliding by a function like this:

*function disableAllButtons(){
for (i=0;i<5;i++) {
_root.mainMovie[“mainNav”+i].btn.enabled = false;
//trace(_root.mainMovie[“mainNav”+i]._y);
}
}

*The btn instances are movie clips. The disabling works fine for the main movie. My problem occurs that when I want to activate a first level nav button inside an external swf by clicking on another button. Checked with trace that the function *disableAllButtons() *indead is called but the button movie clips remain clickable.

Any hints what the problem could be? I tried for hours becoming completely blocked here.:d: thanks in advance for help.

bye
chris