An update on this problem (and possible solution)!!

I have been working at this for hours at my home and here is what I discovered: I could connect to the Internet perfectly when I accessed it straight through the modem, so I determined that my router was acting a little wonky since the problem was occuring on every computer in the house.

I updated the firmware on my router and now everything works fine. If you are using a router, try updating the firmware. Also, pay special attention to the MTU value (mine is at 1392, while it was at 1492 before the firmware upgrade… try contacting your ISP to find the proper value here). Anyway, if it’s a router issue then don’t bother formatting! The problem will not go away.

I refused to do a format because I knew even if the problem would be solved, I would have to reformat every time it happened. Bah. So try this before going to the extremes.