PythonWin Open(file) path bug?

[vector]

newbie,pythonwin,2.2.2
im simply trying to open a file
script snip...
cfg_file = open("lptctrl.cfg", "rb")     #open  config text file
end snip..

  File "E:\Md_prj\md_422\Code\Python\LptCtrl_104.py", line 20, in __init__
     cfg_file = open("lptctrl.cfg", "rb")     #open  config text file
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'lptctrl.cfg'

the file is in the same folder as the python script
i get the same error if opened from the interactive window
import sys
print sys.path
indeed shows the script dir is on the path so why cant it find the 
config file?

If i call the script direct from explorer (no IDE) it works fine
if I open lptctrl.cfg within pythonWin and save As it then runs and 
finds the file(it must be save as, even modifing and just save dosent 
change the error)

any ideas
a bug or am i dong something wrong
I dont want absolute addressing, the file will always be in the "current 
dir"