Help! Plugged mic into I/O - now can't backup due to "I/O device error"

Hello. I plugged a mic into the I/O device on my computer and think I may have caused damage. Now when I try to backup to my external hard drive, I get a message saying "I/O Device Error" and the backup is incomplete. Now I have nothing backed up. I'm using Windows 7. Any help will be appreciated!

 

Try running System Restore, using a restore point before the mic. was plugged in. If it is a driver or registry issue this may solve the problem (just don't plug the mic. back in until you've completed your backup).

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you for your help. I will never plug the mic in again!! Unfortunately, there are no system restore points before the incident happened. However, I ran a diagnostics test on the hard drive and it repaired something--cannot remember the language. The computer seems to be working fine now, but I still can't backup to my external hard drive using Windows 7 software. The backup error code is: 0x81000037. I backed up my documents and pictures to a flash drive just in case something happens.