Help! Clogged? Pump not working

[Jc8313]

Hi- new pool owner here. We had someone come open pool mid May. He stopped showing up to finish the job and we tried finished cleaning ourselves.
The pump isn't running consistently and has not ran for 24 consistent hours to begin to clear. I have the Hayward 3 speed.
It will run then shut off.
Thought it was a problem w settings so I did a factory reset on pump- problem not solveD. I thought timer issue.
As I'm researching it seems like pump isn't priming. I replaced the rubber ring and used silicon before to put in.
I ran garden hose in skimmer
I put a screwdriver to make sure there was nothing lodged in.

If it is clogged- why would it work sometimes then after running a bit it continues to hum but stops pulling water through.

Having 9 year old party first weekend in June and I'm in panic mode.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! So to make sure we understand .. the pump was working fine when first opened but the pool guy, but after you took over and started cleaning, it eventually started with this pattern of stopping after a short time? Let's run through a short checklist of things:
- Does water get pulled out of pump if you fill the pump strainer basket full of water and re-secure the lid?
- Were you vacuuming when this started happening? If so, what type of vacuum do you use? (Please update your signature with equipment)
- What does your filter gauge show for a psi? Have you opened it up since cleaning?
- With the screwdriver, you were able to reach the impeller and turn it freely?
- What type of suction line(s) do you have (skimmer only? both skimmer and main drain)?

This might help give us some more clues.