0.8.7.1 wallet is still the latest wallet version so no update possible...
have you tried without a conf file?
yes still the same
hmm the only idea i have left is to delete the chain and resynch. but i'm not a tech geek ...
you can also ask boris or vertcoin via pm for help.
Make sure you backup your wallet.dat first! That is very very important just in case you accidentally clear out the entire Vertcoin folder.