Can't Seem to Dial In No Matter What I Try [Delonghi ECP 3630]

Title describes my issue but to get into the details: I can't seem to dial in like at all. I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with my machine.

I've tried pre-ground Bustelo, pre-ground Kimbo, grinding my own illy beans, and illy ESE pods. By far the best outcome was the ESE pods, though the coffee itself was fairly mild and I could use a bolder flavor, hence my attempts with Bustelo/Kimbo/illy espresso roast beans.

But when I try to use the grounds in either my single-shot or double-shot pressurized baskets, the shot is "complete" at like 13 secs. far below the 25-30 sec. most recipes suggest. From everything I've read, if anything a pressurized basket should get clogged and be too slow, but instead it's flowing like an untamped puck.

I feel like I've tried everything from a slightly coarser ground but heavily tamped, a finer ground lightly tamped, to a finer ground very tightly tamped, and it's still flowing too fast. Even the ESE pod was fairly fast (and even bubbling towards the end) but it still produced a much more balanced cup than other attempts.

I feel like I need to figure this out first, before I start worrying about more advanced variables.

Any suggestions on what I should be doing instead?