Playhead not tracking while playing in Logic Pro

Playhead not tracking while playing in Logic pro. Also anything I press on the mixer window does not express itself visually, just through the speakers.

example 1. I press space bar and it plays. Looking at the screen the playhead will go for a second then freeze. Audio still going.

example 2. mixer meters freeze. i can mute a track by pressing the button, but it does not light up.

My output has crawled to a stop. please help.

MBP M1 MAX 32GBRAM

[Re-Titled by Moderator]