I had this problem for about 3 months and left Maya completely incapable of saving or loading files. Finally I stumbled upon the problem. Pythonpath and Pythonhome where both set to different files. While these files had python with them they had been uninstalled previously so there was nothing there.

Here are the steps of how to fix this issue.

1) Click on the START button in Windows and right click on my computer.

2) Click on PROPERTIES.

3) Then on the left side a list of options with shields next to them appear. (depending on operating system) Click on ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS.

4)In the window that pops up Click on ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.

5) Now in the list you should be able to find MAYA_SCRIPT, PYTHONHOME, or PYTHONPATH variables. If you find any of those delete them. On startup Maya should replace any broken files with finding a new Python and script element to use.

You are now able to work in Maya and able to save and load!

Thanks
Shibbs