That definitely seems weird…
I would suggest uninstalling ASIO4ALL and your current audio driver completely, then re-install the M-Audio driver. I’ve had a weird issues once with my (otherwise ultra-robust) RME UCX, where each time I opened a project, I had to reset the audio engine before Cubase would play a sound. I un- and reinstalled the ASIO driver, suddenly everything worked flawlessly again.
If that doesn’t help, definitely try Start Cubase in Safe mode / Temporarily disable preferences if you haven’t already. Doesn’t help often, but sometimes resolves weird issues.