[CentOS] Yum update corrupted something badly - can only get access through SSH terminal or Webmin

Wed Apr 22 16:47:18 UTC 2009
Dan Roberts <dan at jlazyh.com>

Hey there -

This morning I ran the yum updater through Webmin as I do every month  
or so - after about two hours I realized that I still had the same  
updating screen going - and no response.   Seemed strange.

Simple attempts to kill it didn't work so I sent a command to reboot  
the system - that seemed to work, till I turned on the monitor  
directly connected to the server -

I saw this error go by - and then only a spinning cursor - never get  
to a login screen.  (I power cycled again and saw it go by again - and  
recognized it when I tried again at Webmin and through a terminal  
connection).

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/bin/yum", line 28, in ?
     import yummain
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 29, in ?
     import cli
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 30, in ?
     import output
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/output.py", line 26, in ?
     from i18n import _
ImportError: No module named i18n

I deleted the yum cash and no improvement.  I tried the yum clean and  
no imporvement
[root at trailrunner yum]# yum clean all
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/bin/yum", line 28, in ?
     import yummain
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 29, in ?
     import cli
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 30, in ?
     import output
   File "/usr/share/yum-cli/output.py", line 26, in ?
     from i18n import _
ImportError: No module named i18n
[root at trailrunner yum]#

Not at all sure what happened or why, or where I even start trying to  
straighten this mess out.

How do I blow away the apparent yum junk in the hope of getting a  
local login capability back?

How or what should I do to reset yum - seems reinstalling the latest  
version is probably the route.  What is the version that CentOS  
uses?   Should I go the RPM route or try something more specific?

Totally unexpected problem and leaving me feeling very uncertain about  
things.