synaptic package manager window gone blank

[Kim Cascone]

4.10 Warty PPC
Synaptic 0.53.4
I opened the perferences panel and adjusted some of the settings
hit applied and now there is no information visually listed in the main 
window
I am able to change the pull down menu to the various selections i.e. I 
can see 'sections' but when selected nothing shows up in the main 
window
the 'columns and fonts' panel in prefs comes up with nothing checked 
(Status, Supported, Package Name, etc) but even after turning them all 
on (clicking on check box) and hitting 'apply' the main window is still 
blank...
suggestions? is there a conf XML file somewhere that got clobbered that 
I should edit? if so, where is it and what text should I correct?
thanks in advance!
KIM