Index: wp-includes/l10n.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/l10n.php	(revision 21096)
+++ wp-includes/l10n.php	(working copy)
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if ( is_admin()  )
+	if ( is_admin() || ( defined( 'WP_REPAIRING' ) && WP_REPAIRING ) )
 		load_textdomain( 'default', WP_LANG_DIR . "/admin-$locale.mo" );
 
 	if ( is_network_admin() || ( defined( 'WP_INSTALLING_NETWORK' ) && WP_INSTALLING_NETWORK ) )