This happens when the only line in my .emacs is (load "auctex.el" nil t t)
I have verified this bug on two separate Linux systems using Emacs 24.4.1.
I have only had this problem with auctex 11.89.4 (which I installed from http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/ using the emacs package manager).
I have also tested this with manually installed versions of 11.89 and 11.88 (which i installed from https://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/auctex/) and both of these versions work fine.