Finder stalling/freezing (beachball 10mins.)

Question

Lately, I have been having problems with my iMac (Late 2006, 24", 2.16GHz) and I am very puzzled about the cause of it (plus how to fix it). Mac OS X 10.6.8, updated last week via Software Update.
Not sure if it's related but first had Pages (Mac App Store version) crash when I tried to open a simple AppleWorks word processing document (nothing fancy in it). I then opened the WP doc in AppleWorks, opened Pages and a blank doc (portrait format). Copied all the text from the AWks doc, switched to Pages and pasted it into Pages, and saved the doc as a Word (.doc) file, on an external drive. Then save the open file in Pages as a Pages document. Quit Page, quit AppleWorks. At about that point, the Finder shows the spinning beachball, then the menubar disappears. I relaunched the Finder (said "Not responding" in the Dock), but the Finder wouldn't restart. Had to shut down. Decided to leave it alone for a while and just use my ancient PowerBook Firewire (aka Pismo).
Later, I start up my iMac again, and I get a message that the (external) disc was 'not put away correctly' (okay...). I had some queued printer files and went to print those - the first document printed, then the printer went offline. I turned it off, waited, then turned it back on. Still offline on the printer. I restarted the iMac, without other discs attached. (Side thing, the Apple Wireless keyboard seems intermittent about working, possibly the rechargeables don't last long)
I started back up, and ran Disk Utility, get the 'disc not put away' message (again..), and the Finder stalls, Apple-Option-Escape doesn't pull up the usual dialog box. Had to turn off the iMac to get out of it.
I got in a Hitachi 500GB SATA drive (had a SATA/USB 2.0 enclosure for it to go into), formatted it and had Carbon Copy Cloner back up my (230GB external) startup drive to the Hitachi (left it going overnight to get done). (By the way, my iMac does not have internet connection at home - have to haul it to local WiFi to do updates/Mac App Store downloads)
I come back to the iMac this morning, restart from the Hitachi (power was already on) and go to back it up to my Time Machine (external 1TBdrive). When I check how it's doing, I see "Indexing backup" in the TM pull-down menu. While I'm waiting, I plug in the USB cable for my printer (had turned it off, waited and turned back on again). The Time Machine icon in the menubar stops its animation/turning. When I try to click on the TM icon, I get the spinning beachball again. After that, anything else I attempt to do in Finder does not respond - nor does the Dock when I try to see about restarting the Finder.(!)
Also, the internal 230GB in the iMac died, so I have been booting up from the external 230GB (which was cloned from the internal before it croaked, and has been updated since then a couple of time (Software Update). I had installed the SMC fan control program, as I suspect this particular iMac's design was flawed and the heat buildup likely contributed to the internal disc's dying. When I start up, I frequently get an message (about the internal dead drive) that "This drive is not readable. Initialize - Ignore - Format" (close to that), and usually tell the iMac to ignore the drive (until I can get the 500GB swapped in for the dead drive).
Current drives list:
Usual startup drive - was the external 230GB (I think it's a WDC); as of today, was using the Hitachi SATA 500GB in the USB 2.0 enclosure
Time Machine backup drive - Seagate 1TB FreeAgent Pro (FireWire)
Other drives connected (at times):
OWC Neptune 160GB external, ATA/IDE (FireWire)
OWC Mercury-To-Go 120GB ATA/IDE (2.5" drive) (FireWire/USB)
So I'm not sure if the printer is causing the Finder problems (or vice versa), or if the iMac is just possessed.. :-P
And please don't tell me to go get a new Mac - don't have that kind of money available.
All reasonable help/suggestions will be appreciated
Jim

Answer 1

Thanks for the info about new iMacs - will save me from that mistake (Why do they have to mess with things - just to keep someone buying another Mac instead of simply fixing what was wrong with the one they already have?).
I have tried booting with the Snow Leopard install DVD (this model of iMac came with 10.4.something, so I need to run the hardware test from that to see if there's something more than the internal drive that isn't working right). Went through Disk Util.'s repair disc as well as repair permissions, and DU told me the disc 'appears to be OK' (wondered - did their legal dept. told them *not* to clearly say it was okay...?), but have had problems after that 'repair'.
Will go back and try safe boot again, and see if it helps. (Even booting up seems slower lately...)
Maybe I'll hunt down that (slightly used) MacBook Pro and just switch over totally to that...