It is hard to tell why your amp is doing that with the information you gave us, what electrical upgrades do you have? Are you sure your wired at the ohm load the amp likes and not below its final ohm load? 3/4 of a gain setting is not a good way to set your gains, could be clipping your amp that is why it is blinking. Set your gains right and I wouldnt say it is safe to play something that has a protection light showing you it is going in and out of protect. you never adjust your gains on your amp when you want to show out, you usually want to have your settings on your headunit turned down from when you set it correctly and then boost those settings when you want to show off. That way those are your max settings before you damage anything. On the skipping issue make sure it is mounted correctly and not loose so it would cause the headunit to move around.