Apple Remote Desktop: Remote to Mac booted off external HD, goes to sleep repeatedly.

Macbook Pro 2019, running Ventura 13.6.4, and Apple Remote Desktop 3.9.

When i try to remote to my 2017 iMac running Ventura 13.6.5 that runs (booted ) off

an external NVME connected via USB-C, every 2 mins the connection goes to "sleep" and

I have to repeatedly tap the space bar to "wake" the connection.

I have made sure to turn off all Sleep Functions on the iMac, and even have installed Jolt

to keep the machine from sleeping. But the issue still persits. Anywhere I can look, perhaps an

preference file to be trashed?