No errors in event log

I've done the usual; dumped cache, restarted the application, compacted the db, double checked there are no funny characters in the tabs table, synchronized the file manager, 

In the db, I find the

• Portals table: all records as expected
• PortalSettings: only 8 of the 59 records expected
• PortalLocalization: first 7 columns are normal, column 8 > to the end, are null or -1. The background column (col8) should be FileID=-1, not null.
• PortalAlias: no entries

So... I'll keep poking about, but this is day 5 and we're still not creating templates as usual.. ouch