Meters freeze within a few seconds of playback

Hello, I am new here. I have a question for anyone who can answer. I downloaded the upgrade from 11.2 and i created a new test audio track and dropped a un mastered mix into the track. when I hit play, the meters across the top freeze after a couple of seconds of playback. can anyone tell me why please? My system is a Mac Pro with Tahoe 26.3 with a M2 Ultra chip, 64 GB ram. I/O is a Studio Live SE 32. Thank you for who ever responds.

Playback can still be heard?
Did you try without any plugin?

Try this: Raise buffer size in Control Panel to see if this would change what you experience now!

regards S-EH