This sorted it for me - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74523328/markdown-plugin-for-intellij-not-showing-preview
TL;DR;
add ide.browser.jcef.gpu.disable=true
in Help | Edit Custom Properties and restart the IDE
possibly
ensure you are using an IDEA VM using
possibly
File
>Invalidate Caches...
> Check onlyDelete embedded browser engine cache and cookies
>Invalidate and Restart
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sudo apt install libnss3-dev libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libxss-dev
sudo apt-get install libasound2
restart