Can a GUI cause corruption of hgrc.m and startup.m - R2013a?

Hello,

Long-time MATLAB user, but new to GUIs and GUIDE. I am using R2013a. I get the following message on startup of MATLAB:

Warning: Initializing Handle Graphics failed in matlabrc.
This indicates a potentially serious problem in your MATLAB setup, which should be resolved
as soon as possible.  Error detected was:
MATLAB:m_illegal_character
Error: File: hgrc.m Line: 1 Column: 24
The input character is not valid in MATLAB statements or expressions. 
Warning: Executing startup failed in matlabrc.
This indicates a potentially serious problem in your MATLAB setup, which should be resolved
as soon as possible.  Error detected was:
MATLAB:m_illegal_character
Error: File: startup.m Line: 2 Column: 2
The input character is not valid in MATLAB statements or expressions. 
> In matlabrc at 191

A reinstall of MATLAB made the error go away. I ran my GUI code once and the error re-appears along with Communcation System Toolbox not being recognized (I can't access a needed MATLAB function with in the Comm system Toolbox). IT Department tells me my license is acessing the toolbox on the server, but "ver" at the MATLAB prompt does not list the toolbox in question, and the needed function is in the toolbox and I can't even get "help" output on the function or execute it. Everything worked fine as recently as about 24 hours ago.

I wonder if my GUI code development is causing a real-time corrupting of hgrc.m and subsequently startup.m.

Suggestions?

Derek