Upload Progress - Setup perfectly (screenshots included): Progress stuck at "starting upload"

Problem/Motivation

Hey all. I've been banging my head against this one for months and months. Desperate for some help.

I've setup PECL Upload Progress on my D 9.45 site. The obvious goal is to get the uploadprogress bar showing progress as the image uploads.

Here's a quick recap of my setup...
- Installed upload progress 2.0.2 (latest)version on the server.
- Status report shows Upload Progress as enabled (see screenshot).
- PHPInfo shows upload progress installed (see screenshot).
- Added "Progress bar" to the image form field.

Everything is setup correctly. But when I upload an image, the bar sticks at "starting upload" and doesn't change until the file is uploaded.

In other related issues, I saw the THEME was the problem... so I've tried uploading again on Bartik and Seven. Still the same issue... progress is stuck at "starting upload" until the image is done uploading.

I'm at a loss with how to troubleshoot further. I'd be extremely grateful for guidance or help.

Checkout the below screenshots for php+apache version

Thank you!