Time Machine can't get past the Preparing stage now

I found the document about partitioning the external HD as GUID. Did that and it seemed to work better.
I completed one full backup. The issue has always been it running while other things were running. It seems to lock the machine. CPU panic etc.
So I did a clean install of Leopard, moved my files over from backup. Partitioned the external LaCie 1TB drive as GUID and was able to complete a full back up.
Later, I installed iWork '08. TM was running. The install froze. TM was stuck. Force Quit did nothing. I knew from experience the only way out was to power down the LaCie external drive. I did this and was able to force quit the iWork '08 install. I started the iWork install over and it worked.
However, even after running DU to check out the external drive, when trying to run TM it can't get passed the Preparing... stage of a backup. I suspect if I delete the backup and let it start over it would work again. For a time.
Any ideas?
iMac 20/2.0/2G/250/SD/BT/AP
10.5, all the updates applied.

Maybe I didn't give it enough time. It finally started backing up and I think it worked. Wow.

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Time Machine can't get past the Preparing stage now

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