Update Problems: Could not create directory

A few days ago I noticed a porn link at the bottom of my blog and inside p-admin. This link was below the site and footer. I added the wordforce plugin and looked through plugins and other files.
The link is now gone. The final thing I did was upload a clean copy of wp-config from several months ago AND deleted bad behaviour and wp-super cache and then went and reinstalled them from the WP list.
So since then I have a few other problems–that may or may not have been present before and so I do;t know if all the recent issues are related. I’ve been having issues with updating and the issues continue. I was able to succesfully updgrade to the latest version of WP, and I think a few others worked briefly, but updates are not working again.

Yesterday I was initially not getting an error message, the system just stayed in maintenance mode… I got out by renaming wp-config and then naming it back. It takes a few minutes before this works–when I rename it and back again right away I get no change, but after a couple of minutes it works–every time. This is also the case if I rename wp-config and upload a clean copy isntead of naming it back.
Today I first get an error message and then it goes into maintenance mode–Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute. This is the pattern for all plugin updates and the one theme that needs updating.

Error Messages

An error occurred while updating Weaver Xtreme Theme Support: Could not create directory. …wp-content/plugins/weaverx-theme-support/
An error occurred while updating Weaver Xtreme: Could not create directory. …wp-content/themes/weaver-xtreme/

I wondered if this could be a permissions issue. The plugins folder is 775 so I changed it to 755 and it made no difference.

BUT I have also made a second wp-config with my FTP credentials added
– FTP_HOST
– FTP_USER
– FTP_PASS
because I’ve been having issues with a pro plugin and support said “It seems like WordPress does not have write permission on the server (when you install plugins, you are probably prompted to enter FTP login information).”
Yes, I always have to put in my user and password when updating and so I thought it would be nice to not do this anymore.
So I saved the original wp-config and made another for the edits. I’ve tried both wp-config files and both yield the same results. The new file seems to work regarding my FTP credentials thought, but could this be causing a problem? Or maybe I need to add more FTP info? Or maybe the edited file has nothing to do with my updating issues.

Oh amd this just seems odd, everytime I rename/and name it back or upload a clean wp-config in response to maintenance mode, I see that I have 1 item needing updating–though there are 5 and it will not show all 5 until I refresh the page.