can not view files in folders on desktop

I have a iMac8,1 OS X 10.6.8 2.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo

My problem is after double clicking on folders on desktop, nothing happens. If I double click again I get a grey panel that is blank where files are usually listed and across top where name of folder is normally located it reads "window". I have tried accessing an external hard drive and and get same response. I have tried resetting Finder, also rebooting with no help. I have tried using spotlight and that is no help.

I have used Firefox, iTunes and they both work fine. iTunes is using the music files located in the folders that can not be viewed and no problem with playing them occurs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tried booting into Safe Boot Mode or booting from your 10.6.x install disk?

When was the last time you ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions and/or Verify/Repair disk?

Do that when you boot from your SL install disk anyway. It'll show up in the Utilities menu prior to running the install or reinstall.

Perhaps your Desktop or Finder plist file (or both) is (are) corrupt. If so, you fix that by deleting the file(s) from Home/User/YOU/Library/Preferences and restarting. The files are com.apple.desktop.plist and ...finder.plist.

The way you know if they are corrupt is to do the above and see if the problem goes away. Do one, restart, if that doesn't fix it, do the other, restart.