XP Pro backup not working-

[hopeful]

Last week the backup on my system started not working. System is XP Pro SP3. Backup is coming up (I can see in task manager and icon placed in start), get an hour glass for a few seconds and then nothing. I get a backup utility popup that stays on and only goes away when the system is shut down. Once I got a message that briefly said something to the effect that it was looking for storage device or something to that effect -- it blinked off before I could write down--. Before shutdown the system tries to end the program but cannot so have to use end now to close it in order to shut down machine.

I have done an sfc \scannow but problem continues.

Going to ctrl panel-administrative tools-computer management (local)-storage cannot get a list of the removable storage by clicking on the + to left--just keeps trying and can only stop the search by going to the task manager. However I can use all my storage facilities (USB, hard drive, cd/dvd-r, cd r/w) -- both read and write, ok. They are also listed when I check system information. Only for backup am I having a problem.

Looked at removal storage properties by going to control panel-admin tools-computer management--Services-and found removable storage in list. Under general tab, startup choice is manual, and service status is stopped. Under the general tab,I tried to change service status to start and windows attempts to do so but cannot and it reverts to stop. Under the logon tab there is a check next to local system account and further down under hardware profile-- profile 1 is enabled, under the recovery tab no actions are set, and finally under the dependencies tab is stated that the service depends on the Remote Protection Call (RPC) component.

I am not 100% sure this (removal storage) is the cause of the backup failure but seems to be from all indicators I have seen so far.

Also got an error 'The snapin display may be inconsistent with the Removable Storage Service. If the problem persits please restart the snapin"

Does anyone have any suggestions on what else I can try to get backup working?

Thank you.

[hopeful]

Just to follow up on my recent post. After trying many procedures some of which I mention in the last post, I read that deleting all the files in the Ntmsdata folder (in windows/system 32/ntmsdata) could help so I copied them over to a flash drive just in case and did so. Then got the removable storage service to start and then backup came up, the ntmsdata folder was automatically repopulated. Easy solution that worked . Was only possible to track after I finally got error messages today that problem was probably caused by malfunction of the removable storage service. Good to have a good working system. Always worry that if one item is bad it could trigger other problems. But thank you for the opportunity to post. Hopefully I will never need to come back but at least I found your site because of my problems.