Punch In works but does not record Midi on track or let me hear audio

I set up my punch in and out points. Lock punch points to locator position. Arm track, start play a bar before. Track goes into record mode at punch point, but I can’t hear instrument and no midi data is recorded. With stop button, I can hear my instrument. I tried monitor on and off with same results. Been here 2 hours and have gotten nowhere. I am new, but this shoouldn’t be rocket science, or involve math. Any ideas what is going wrong?