Why does the Develop module not populate the image, but is a blank grey space? G, E all quickly populate proper display, but Develop, Flagging, Starring are SUPER SLOW, as in 30 seconds to register

Why does the Develop module not populate the image, but is a blank grey space? G, E all quickly populate proper display, but Develop, Flagging, Starring are SUPER SLOW, as in 30 seconds to register the keystroke, if at all.    What is bogging this down. Came out of blue, however the images are stored on an external HD, and my Mac battery expired while the external hard drive was attached and LrClassic was open.   I have the latest MacOS and Lightroom classic updates onboard.