ipython qtconsole no cursor, frozen?

i've installed ipython and ipython qtconsole ion Ubuntu 12.04. I have 2 icons in my apps menu, 1 for each. When i click on the ipython icon, nothing seems to happen. When i click on the qtconsole it opens but no cursor or prompt appears. Don't believe it's frozen, the menu opens and i can choose help etc, but no cursor or anyway to interact with the beast.

When it opens i get this displied:
Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 20 2012, 22:44:07)
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

IPython 0.12.1 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
? -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
%quickref -> Quick reference.
help -> Python's own help system.
object? -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.
%guiref -> A brief reference about the graphical user interface.

Tried the Terminal, ipython works fine and qtconsole opens but once again no prompt or cursor. get this error msg.

produces
this
output.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/__init__.py", line 43, in <module>
    from .config.loader import Config
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/config/loader.py", line 26, in <module>
    from IPython.external import argparse
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/external/argparse/__init__.py", line 10, in <module>
    from _argparse import *
ImportError: No module named _argparse
Error in sys.excepthook:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport_python_hook.py", line 64, in apport_excepthook
    from apport.fileutils import likely_packaged, get_recent_crashes
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from apport.report import Report
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apport/report.py", line 18, in <module>
    import problem_report
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/problem_report.py", line 16, in <module>
    from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/email/mime/multipart.py", line 9, in <module>
    from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/email/mime/base.py", line 9, in <module>
    from email import message
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/email/message.py", line 16, in <module>
    import email.charset
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/email/charset.py", line 14, in <module>
    import email.quoprimime
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/email/quoprimime.py", line 48, in <module>
    from string import hexdigits
ImportError: cannot import name hexdigits

Original exception was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/__init__.py", line 43, in <module>
    from .config.loader import Config
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/config/loader.py", line 26, in <module>
    from IPython.external import argparse
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/external/argparse/__init__.py", line 10, in <module>
    from _argparse import *
ImportError: No module named _argparse

Isn't argparse part of the standard library?

Python 3.2.3, 2.7.3
Qt 4.8.1
PyQt 4.9.1
sip 4.13.2
QScintilla 2.6.1

Thanks for any help I can get.
Ken