You're free to contact support as you choose (a link is at the bottom of every page here), and include a link to this post, your diagnostics etc, but answers are likely to be identical to what has already been itemized.
Get rid of the zero byte files and reboot. And upgrade the OS version and not downgrade.
I don't think so.
No different than saying that there's a knocking sound coming from your car when you're talking to a mechanic.
In terms of your specific issue, it appears to be actual corruption.