Edge developer console panel isn't viewable

I'm having a problem opening the developer console on my Win 10 PC home version. Essentially, the developer panel isn't viewable at all. If I press F12 or try through "more tools" or Ctrl+Shift+I  no panel opens up - but if I hover over Edge browser refresh button after any of those 3 options I can see Hard Refresh and Empty Cache and Hard Reresh options - they disappear if I press F12 etc a second time.
My Chrome browser developer console is viewable - but that also did stop working for a day or so.
Help would be appreciated as I prefer Edge to Chrome - most of the time!