ionic2 - ENOENT error when doing ionic start -

i upgraded beta.23 , started error when created new project using 'ionic start foo --v2 --verbose'.
error in red says "unable spawn commanderror: spawn npm enoent (cli v2.0.0-beta.23)."

i have npm installed , can run windows 8 cmd line. tried upgrade node v5.9.1. confirmed npm in path environment variable , can run npm cmd shell. ideas how fix or debug further appreciated.

here complete output:

   c:\ionic2>ionic start foo --v2 --verbose    task setting: title=start, name=start, summary=starts new ionic project in     specified path, [options]=any flags command, <path>=directory n     ew project, [template]=starter templates can either come named     template,     (ex: tabs, sidemenu, blank),    github repo, codepen url, or local directory.    codepen url, defaults ionic "tabs" starter template, --appname|-a=human readable name     app (use quotes around name), --id|-i=package name <widget id>     confi g, ex: com.mycompany.myapp, title=skip npm package installation,     boolean=true, t itle=create basic structure without cordova requirements, boolean=true,     title=    setup project use sass css precompiling, boolean=true, title=list starter  templates available, boolean=true, --io-app-id=the ionic.io app id use, --te mplate|-t=project starter template, boolean=true, title=start ionic v2 project , boolean=true, title=(with --v2 only) use typescript in starter, --zip-file|-z= url download zipfile starter template, module=./ionic/start, disablechang epwd=true utils.preprocessclioptions _=[start, foo], skip-npm=false, no-cordova=false, w=f alse, sass=false, s=false, list=false, l=false, v2=true, v=false, typescript=fal se, -ts=false, verbose=true, $0=c:\program files\nodejs\node.exe c:\users\bradtk e\appdata\roaming\npm\node_modules\ionic\bin\ionic  1 awesome ionic app coming right up...  creating ionic app in folder c:\ionic2\foo based on tabs project      downloading: https://github.com/driftyco/ionic2-app-base/archive/master.zip      [=============================]  100%  0.0s      downloading: https://github.com/driftyco/ionic2-starter-                  tabs/archive/master.zip [=============================]  100%  0.0s installing npm packages... running exec command: npminstall utils.fail unable run spawn commanderror: spawn npm enoent undefined utils.fail stack undefined utils.errorhandler set, calling cli.utils.errorhandler msg unable run spawn commanderror: spawn npm enoent st ring  unable run spawn commanderror: spawn npm enoent (cli v2.0.0-beta.23)  system information:  cordova cli: 6.1.0 (cordova-lib@undefined) ionic cli version: 2.0.0-beta.23 ionic app lib version: 2.0.0-beta.13 os: windows 8.1 node version: v5.9.1 

regards, bruce

i have exact same issue. worked in beta 22.

reverting earlier beta resolved issue:

npm install -g ionic@2.0.0-beta.22