how to fix initialization error in debconf.pm?

[Bram Kuijper]

Hi all,

I am trying Xubuntu through wubi on my old Toshiba laptop; everything 
works OK, except that I have some serious trouble with the update 
manager. The dpkg-status file was showing several errors and I had to 
make a new one with the script provided here: 
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4093836&postcount=4

However, after again updating, I ran into trouble and had to do dpkg 
--configure -a to clean up the mess. Subsequently, I got the following 
error:

Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at 
/usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Format/822.pm line 65, <$__ANONIO__> line 1.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at 
/usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Format/822.pm line 65, <$__ANONIO__> line 2.
Use of uninitialized value in substitution (s///) at 
/usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Format/822.pm line 65, <$__ANONIO__> line 3.
Use of uninitialized value in hash element at 
/usr/share/perl5/Debconf/DbDriver/File.pm line 70, <$__ANONIO__> chunk 3.

This problem has also been reported under bug nr. 13130 in Launchpad, 
but they did not provide a workaround.
Some websites advice that I should just reinstall xubuntu, but I 
wouldn't like to go through the installation again.

Any ideas how to solve this problem without reinstallation?

thanks in advance,

Bram Kuijper