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The other thing I can't figure out is why every single time I start BIAB on my Laptop I get a pop-up error box as seen in the attachments below.
Well, there's certainly some opportunity for something to have been broken / corrupted by that event, and it could be related to your issue.
What version of BiaB is running on your laptop? Is this 2024?
Do you get that message on your old (2023) BiaB?
I would be reporting that along with as much detail as possible to PG Music support, especially if the laptop is running 2024.