Hmm ... I didn't encounter either of those problems. Two quick questions ...
1. Did you start from a blank map? "Failed to alter the spatial reference" can happen if the dataset is read-only or being locked by another application. If it was active in another map or project, that could have been the issue...
2. At what point are you trying to view the attribute table? If the Project tool fails and the attribute table of the layer it was trying to create is empty, that would be expected as the Project tool did not complete.
If you cannot view the attribute table after Display XY Data ... that would be a different issue. This article may have some clues as to why you are not seeing the attributes as expected: 27589 - Import XY data tables to ArcMap and convert the data to a shapefile
I guess best case is that you maybe had another map with the same layers open and that is what is causing both issues.
Let me know how it goes.
Jenora