I tried the Default Lights in Max 2025.2 and my installation seems to work well. I posted two images. One is with the Basic settings like you have and the other is ticking shadows and AO and and adding some advanced features. It works well also.
Can you try the same thing? Turn a few things on and see if you can replicate what I'm showing.
Rob Holmes

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3ds Max (2025-2027), V-Ray 7, Ryzen 9 9950X3D Processor, DDR5 128MB, Gigabyte Aorus X870E Master motherboard, Sabrent Rocket NVMe Gen5 M.2 drives, NVidia RTX 4090, Space Pilot Pro, Windows 11 Pro x64, Tri-Monitor, Cintiq 13HD, Windows 11 x64
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------