Premiere Pro playback not working on Mac M2 – timeline scrubs but won’t play, renderer greyed out.

Hi,
I’m experiencing a critical playback issue in Adobe Premiere Pro on Apple Silicon (Mac M2).

System

• MacBook with Apple M2

• macOS (latest, Sonoma/Ventura)

• Premiere Pro 25.6.3

• Media stored via Dropbox (File Provider)

Problem description

• Projects open correctly

• Timeline and sequences are visible

• I can scrub the playhead manually

• Clips are linked and online

• BUT:

  • Playback does not start

  • Play/Stop buttons do nothing

  • Program Monitor is frozen

  • This happens even in a brand new project

  • Renderer option is greyed out (cannot switch to Software Only)

  • Creating a new sequence does not help

So the timeline scrubs, but playback engine is completely unresponsive.

What I already tried

• Creating a new project and new sequences

• Resetting workspaces

• Clearing media cache

• Resetting preferences

• Changing Audio Hardware:

  • Default Input: No Input

  • Default Output: Built-in Output

  • Sample Rate: 48000 Hz

• Disconnecting all external audio devices

• Restarting macOS

• Issue persists in every project, including empty test projects

Additional notes

• This looks like a global playback engine bug

• Renderer is locked/greyed out even before importing media

• Timeline scrubbing works, but playback never starts

• No error messages are shown

Question

Is this a known bug in Premiere Pro 25.6.x on Apple Silicon (Metal / CoreAudio / File Provider related)?
Is there an official fix or workaround planned?

Thanks for any help.