BuddyPress.org

I had the same problem but finally got it solved. I had to do 2 things:

1 – go into “settings>miscellaneous” and fill in the “full URL path to files” so it will be example http://yourdomainname/wp-content/uploads

2 – requires editing the php coding in the file bp-core-avatars.php in BuddyPress. You can find this file by going into “plugins>editor”. On the right side, there is a drop down box labelled “select plug-in to edit”. Change this default selection from Asimet to BuddyPress and press “select”. The list of files beneath will change. Scroll down to “buddypress/bp-core/bp-core-avatars.php” and select it.
The changes need to be down on lines 389 & 390, it’s down near the end of the page. (I used copy/paste in MS Frontpage editor to find the line number close to “function bp_core_avatar_upload_path() {“) You’ll be replacing the 2 lines with 3 lines. ** Use the WordPress editor to make the changes to copy/paste the lines once you find them **

Replace:
if ( !$path = get_option( ‘upload_path’ ) )
$path = WP_CONTENT_DIR . ‘/uploads’;

With:
if ( !$path = get_option( ‘upload_path’ ) )
$path = WP_CONTENT_DIR . ‘/uploads’;
else $path = ABSPATH . $path;

See this post for the solution https://buddypress.org/community/groups/how-to-and-troubleshooting/forum/topic/avatar-cropping-after-upload-image-and-cropper-dont-appear-fails/