Hello electricblue_,
We would suggest that you try to isolate what is causing the problem by starting the system in safe mode.
Here are the steps from How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support:
1. Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.
2. Release the key when you see the login window, then log in to your Mac.
3. You might be asked to log in again. On either the first or second login window, you should see ”Safe Boot” in the upper-right corner of the window.
The computer will take longer to start in safe mode, and the screen may have some distorted video as it starts up. This is normal. Once you are logged in, use the system and test to see if the issue continues.
If everything seems to work as expected, go ahead and restart the computer normally and test again. Starting in safe mode forces the computer to run some disk checks similar to First Aid. This can resolve some issues.
Cheers.