How to "END" a song? It won't 'stop.'

Hiya Jim
Put your playback head at the end of your song and scroll down to see if any of the tracks go beyond the end point, also check further along the time line to see if there are any other tracks because sometimes when you import tracks they get but further along the timeline and in that case it will keep playing until it reaches the end.

Also make sure you don't have any automation envelopes going past where you want the song to end.  It is easy for me to miss the ends of these things, especially when the envelopes are for various parameters of the aux buses.

JimGore
Again, thanks for all the responses. Unfortunately, I have to spend most of my time studying to renew Net+ and get my Security+. It leaves little time to really dig deep into what Professional can do and how to use it properly. 
Jim

Another case where real job gets in the way!  I have this problem too!
 

I hear ya, Pat300e. I had to quit music altogether when I got married many years ago. Now I'm happily divorced, but I've still gotta work.
 
TheDuke - Thanks for the link!. Thanks to everyone for their links!!
 
Crazy how a freak note that mysteriously appeared 500 measures "in the future" threw me into a tailspin like that.
 
Again, I really do appreciate all the responses. I've been looking at everything each of you has contributed - learning a lot. Now if I could just compose some good sounding stuff like my favorite bands (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dregs, 'Wired' era Jeff Beck, Magma, AREA, et.al. ad nauseum) I'll finally be on to something. Long Live 70's Progressive Rock and Fusion!!

Mosvasive - Thanks for that. I wondered why on playback it just kept going. If you read my earlier post, I had been using a Sonar LE (Lite) version that came with the V-Studio 100 I bought 6 years ago (what a waste that thing was....another story for another time) and a lot of these settings were things that I never had to fool with. I've had the last two weeks off trying to really get used to Professional. The one thing it does not do that the LE version did is snap to grid when using the Staff View. I used to be able to program difficult drum patterns (as I said, I love fusion music) in no time but now I have to keep 'fixing' the notes because, even though they look in place and I'm using the 'Now' bar to place them, inevitably one or more will be a 32nd off. Quantizing helps, but the workflow is certainly slower.
 
Anyway, thanks for that tip. I just set it a few minutes ago and now it stops on playback.
 
This forum is awesome. Thanks guys!

I like how everyone comes together to help each other out, that's what the Cakewalk family is all about.
 
Peace

This subject comes up fairly often and I always think back to CW & Win 3.1 days when it was MIDI only.  I used an F10 keyboard shortcut regularly to extend a selection to the end of the song.  This shortcut is no longer bound by default but it is bindable: Preferences/Customization/Keyboard Shortcuts.
 
e.g. I just bound it to Ctr+F10 (see below) I tried it on a project which was audio only.  I insert a MIDI groove clip well beyond the end of the audio stuff and for chagrins insert a MIDI event well beyond that on measure 652.  Hit Ctl+A to select everything then made a selection - in this case just select a portion from the end of the audio forward - doesn't have to be much.  hit Ctl+10 and everything is selected from the end of the audio (your intended end of song) to the end of the MIDI clip or whatever lingers thereafter. In this case measure 652 verified in the selection window.  Now Delete.
 
This would also let you see if there is anything beyond the intended end of song simply by going through the selection process above and noting the thru time in the selection window.
 
Hope this helps.