Whatever you do, you probably want to uninstall the current copy first, since it's now messed up.

After that, the easiest way would probably be to download it from OpenOffice.org and manually install it. Since it uses basically the same installer as the Windows version, that isn't too big a hardship--though it doesn't automatically install for each user the way a .deb or .rpm would. That means if you install as a user it installs to that user's profile and isn't available to anyone else, and if you install as root you then need to run a short version of the install er for each user who wants access--or it was so last time I installed it. That doesn't put it into the .deb database, but it assures you of the latest version.

Another option is to find a .deb that works. I recall from a remastering a year or so ago that I was able to find a source where I could get a slight update from what was then included in Knoppix. The really good part is that installed it was smaller than the one Knoppix had, so my updated system fit on a CD. I don't remember where I got it, and don't remember if I installed it with apt-get or downloaded it and used dpkg--but I found it from a reference in the forum.

Otherwise, I don't know a good way to get back to where you were unless you just reinstall.