M$Sidewinder FF not-connecting in xp

[Toker]

I finally got my game port cable in the mail, and hooked it up to my motherboard. In windows>control panel>game controllers it shows up as not connected. I had to manually install the device.

My first guess that something was wrong was that after installing the device, when I grabed the stick, there was no "push" felt. (It's a Force Feedback.) I shut down, and flipped the cable (silly me, I thought pin1 would be in the lower left of the text's viewing position..) When I restarted, I now feel the push on the stick, leading me to believe that the cable was reversed and is correct now. However, it still shows as not connected. I tried in MechWarrior4, and the joystick option is greyed out (the not connected message is true.)

I looked for drivers from my motherboard, nothing for the game port, and I'm up on everything else.

System:
ASUS p4s800
P4 2.4GHz
1G 2700-ddram
M$ Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro

OS:
Windows xp home sp1

Is this just maybe a matter of fixing the connection to the port (some setting somewhere?)

[pickel]

I've had trouble with some hardware, and did a system restore ( with the restore discs ) and DID NOT install SP 1 or ANY of Mocrosoft's critical updates and my computersv works just fine. Have installed older hardware and XP gave me a warning it would harm my system but it hasn't. I run behind a router and 2 software firewalls so there's no need to worry.