I understand your dispair. When I was a neophyte monk, I ran into many problems compiling modules. Occasionally, I still do. I can only offer some ideas -- unfortunately there isn't a magic bullet because modules are free, and therefore are not necessarally widely supported.

idea 1) Get gcc as your compiler. This solved 95% of my problems. After you get it, and get it working, then:

2) Compile perl with gcc. Some modules (DBI for example), prefer to be compiled with the compiler that compiled perl.

3) As noted in other replies, use perl -MCPAN and/or cpan plus. Otherwise, you will go crazy.

4) Use a newer version of perl. Modules may not play nice with older versions of perl.

These things may take you a day (or more) to get working right. Once you do, 99% of the modules will work like a charm.

good luck