Hi,
Those "i was also experienceing a red cross (image not loading)" are "manufacturer logos.
You should follow these tutorial to make them appear in the category browse page:
www.flexiblewebdesign.com/forum-virtuemart-2-template-puremart-support/250-tutorial-how-to-show-manufacturer-logos
Otherwise, you will see RED CROSS (image not loading).
Or simply you should set the "manufacturer logo" option to NO through plugin. About "add to cart" issue, i really no idea why it didn't work out in your case. But if you are saying going back to previous version solve the problem, then you should stay with the old version.