finder and spotlight won't search

neither finder nor spotlight will search my mac for files. i have tried inputting file names/content that i know exists, still 0 items found. i am not even sure if a search is even executed. OS X troubleshooting and apple website had no information for me. thank you in advance.

Have you checked your spotlight preferences (in system preferences)?
Otherwise, try this link:
Spotlight won’t work? Fix a broken Spotlight menu with these troubleshooting tips - OS X Daily

6string- spotlight preferences are squared away. as for the solutions on the link, nothing seemed to fix my issue. in regards to rebuilding the spotlight index manually, i got a message stating, "No index". it also appears that these fixes are for a once-working spotlight; mine has not worked since installing OS X 10.6. thank you for your suggestions.

any other suggestions one might have?

Have you tried reinstalling the 10.6.1 update again?

1. Open Spotlight preferences and add your hard drives to the privacy list.
2. Close the system preference. Wait a second or two.
3. Open Spotlight preferences and remove your hard drive from the privacy list.

* wait till process has finished (you'll see in spotlight window) before trying to perform a search.

6string: no dice on either suggestions. i found someone who had the same finder/spotlight issue with their OS X 10.5 who told me he/she reinstalled their OS, which fixed the problem. I just might have to do that. i do appreciate your help though.

reinstalled the OS to no avail. this is starting to upset me... any insights as to why finder and spotlight fail to search would be greatly appreciated.

Did you do a clean install, or just upgrade?
If Clean, before restoring from backup, did you check if searches are working?
Assuming they are working before restoring from backup, then we know that the problem is in user spotlight prefs/files etc.

i did an upgrade, in that all my files were still there after the installation of 10.6. in regards to indexing spotlight: i have tried it a couple of times, and i am not sure if anything is happening. is there a message or a prompt, or anything that comes up when you remove the HD from the privacy list? i can't tell if the re-indexing if happening. how do i know if spotlight is re-indexing, and what ma i doing wrong in that respect. i have followed the guidelines on several different websites:

1. Open up Spotlight Preferences
2. Drag the HD to the Privacy List, click OK when prompt appears.
3. Close Spotlight Preferences
4. Open Spotlight Preferences
5. Remove HD from the Privacy List

nothing happens after step 5. am i missing something? thank you again for sticking with me on this one.

Off memory, while it is re-indexing you'll have a flashing dot and possibly indexing written in the spotlight part of the menu bar.

*I would take the spotlight preferences, and drag to the desktop for safe keeping, then update 10.6.1, repair permissions and test it.
Then if it didn't work, I would do the 10.6.1 update again.
Following that if I still had no success, I would certainly do a clean install (erase disk), and before restoring from the external backup (as that's where the corrupt settings are going to be if it's not working), test to see that spotlight is working properly, which should be the case, and then you know where the problem is.