Cubase LE 5 No sound unless mouse button is held down

Ok, I have loaded this version a while ago. Received it years ago with a piece of audio gear bundled. Anyway, I tried to set it up without an interface or control surface. ( my Zoom HD16 portable recording unit).
I finally got time to work with it, and I followed what I felt were easy steps. but I have no sound. I have imported past recordings and individual tracks. But I don’t see the typical wave form in the track area. IF I click on it then the waveform is shown.( rather largely. I don’t know why I can’t see it right away without clicking on what appears to be empty track.
So then I find that a little icon of a speaker appears in the track where ever I mouse to. If I click and hold the mouse button, I can hear the recording.
This is crazy to have to do… I can’t believe it is this difficult. What am I doing to get this? How can I set it so the track plays when I push the play button on the tabs at the top of the program?
I am really desperate. Been at it for 4 days 4- 6 hours a day. The description of crazy is doing the same thing over and over with the same results. That’s me… I keep changing my set up to no change. I got to be doing something wrong. NOthing on internet has helped PLEASE HELP if you know what I need to do.
GK