Can't add any themes — Error: "Only the current theme is available to you."

Ok I’ve tried everything, please someone help me with this bizarre and (apparently) obscure error I am running into. Google searches galore have turned up nothing (which is a first in my long IT career!).

The problem:
I just used Softaculous to auto-install WordPress 3.2.1 on a private host. Everything is default right now, and my first attempt to change anything was to change the theme. Unfortunately, I am hitting a bug of some sort when trying to do so.

I am not seeing the option to add or install themes when I go to Appearance -> Themes despite having uploaded 3 different themes (and yes they were uploaded correctly via FTP to the themes directory, the directories are not accidentally nested, etc. I’ve double and triple checked everything.)

Under the “Available Themes” section at the bottom of the page, all that is listed is the following error code “Only the current theme is available to you. Contact the <BLOG NAME> administrator for information about accessing additional themes.”

Some notes:

• I am logged in as the only existing user and that user is most definitely listed as the “administrator” role.
• I have cleared my cache and tried multiple browsers (IE and FF), to no avail.
• I have given 777 file permissions to the entire wp-content directory and all files in it, just in case this whole thing was permission related. No dice, it didn’t help.

Anyone heard of anything like this? Please help!

Thanks,
Bryan