Well I did go through everything and I have tried everything:
1. Updated all drivers (including BIOS) - I reformatted my PC so everything is up to date.
2. I pulled out ALL my peripherals (i.e. no USB drives were plugged in)
3. I terminated all running processes
4. I defragmented both my HD and my SSD and ran a "chkdsk" scan.
5. I ran anti-virus scans.
6. I checked my power options - I turned off hibernate and "hybrid" sleep.
I understand that many people post on these threads without first looking for answers themselves, but I can tell you that I have tried everything that I could possibly find. There may easily be something that I missed, and I would appreciate it if someone could point it out to me, but right now I have no idea...