This falls clearly into the category of WTF?!?

I have a cable modem in front of a FW-router, and a small network behind. Due to the upstream network, every now and then DHCP settings get hosed and the modem and router need to be rebooted.

So, I go this morning to check email and such ..... no web pages. So I reboot the modem and router and try again. Nothing. Interestingly enough, I can reach SSL traffic (https). So I start pinging around. DNS works fine as I can ping with names. I try both IE and Mozilla ..... IE just hangs, and Mozilla reports connection refused. Other machines on the network have no problems. I disable the local personal FWs, same thing. I try FTP traffic .... it works!

So it looks like port 80 (1080, 8080) traffic is hosed but nothing else is. WFT?!?!

Are you saying that http is hosed on only one system on your network?

If so is there anything unique about that system's net config relative to the rest?

Well, yes and no! Each machine is different, but all MS based. This machine is WinXP Home, has been running fine for a long time. The only configuration update was to MS MP v9. That update was done over the weekend and the sys ran fine for 2 days without any hitch. It was only a quick troubleshoot as I had to get to work, but it left me scratching me head.