Time machine backup causes system to crash

Hi, I had updates coming through on my macbook, and didn't realise until the next day that the power socket wasn't connected to my mac.  When I tried to use my mac I kept getting an error, in that the computer wouldn't run at all, wouldn't start up.
I tried to use a backup from my time machine but I wasn't able to do so and retain all my information on iphoto mail etc.
When I try and reinstall from time machine I still get the same problem.
Is there any fix that I can do that will allow me to access these backups and run them?
Many thanks

I've been having problems over the last few days. It seems that it's stuck on 'Preparing Backup'. The menu bar icon shows activity all the time, but my last backup was over a day ago.
My system has been intermittently locking up as well. Sometimes it will unfreeze after a few minutes. Other times I'll have to power off using the power button. Not sure if this is related to Time Machine, but something's not right at the moment (maybe after the 10.5.4 update?)

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    Message was edited by: davidav
    Message was edited by: davidav

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