I may try to restore to official firmware and then revert back to custom firmware if I can't figure out why backup refuses to work now. Where would I look so that I can back this stuff up?
you have to ssh into your phone. go to private/var/mobile/library from there you will see a bunch of folders. The folders you will need are addressbook and SMS...copy these folders to your computer and after you restore just put them back into the same location (private/var/mobile/library)