After testing settings I found that if I load the program but dont immediately run the disk from the menu. Then manually type run and hit return it works....sometimes.
I am unable to get it to be any more reliable but if I load it and manually type run it might work so after a few attempts I can get in and otherwise it seems to play fine. Would still love to know if its a setting I'm missing, firmware issue, or an update with the .prg that might be needed. Is it possible to get the .d64 file as well? Wondering if that may work more smoothly.