Premiere Pro freezes when I insert a PNG or JPG image in my project

Hi - I have been working with Premiere Pro 2023 until now, no problem.

When it got auto-updated to the 2024 version, my problems started!

I could no longer work in my project as soon as inserted a PNG or a JPG file. These files are not too large.

When I delete the image file from the project, it starts working fine.

I tried to reduce the file size, but it still did not work.

I updated all drivers  on my system, still no luck.

I reverted back to the 2023 version of Premiere Pro, no luck.

Don't know what to do, plesae help!