Can't get gems to work

I tried deleting the gem cache and updating gems but I get the following
error:

[computer1][/]$ gem update --system
Upgrading RubyGems…
Attempting remote upgrade of rubygems-update
Attempting remote installation of ‘rubygems-update’
Successfully installed rubygems-update-1.3.6
Installing RDoc documentation for rubygems-update-1.3.6…
Could not find main page README
Could not find main page README
Could not find main page README
Could not find main page README
Updating version of RubyGems to 1.3.6
Installing RubyGems 1.3.6
./lib/rubygems.rb:124: uninitialized constant Gem::RbConfig (NameError)
from setup.rb:24
RubyGems system software updated

I am thinking this might have something to do with the fact that I can’t
get gems to install anything withoug getting the error:

ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::GemNotFoundException)
Could not find paperclip (> 0) in the repository

Can anyone help me get this working, I’m at a complete standstill with
developement?

thanks

jack