The weirdest thing just happened on my system... My Sidewinder Precision 2 stopped working! When I checked the Control PanelGaming Options there

If this is the Microsoft joystick, uninstall any software that came with the joystick via the Control Panel, Add/Remove Software Menu.Have you tried to Add the joystick under the Control Panel Gaming Options (Win98/ME) or Game Controllers (WinXP). If not, select Add, find your joystick, and then follow the instructions.You didn't say whether you plug the joystick in the Gameport or if it is USB. If gameport, make sure you still have a gameport listed in the Device Manager, Sound, Video, and Game Controller section. It should say Game Port or Standard Game Port. If it is not installed, go to the Control Panel, Add new hardware section. You can either let it automatically search or manually select the hardware.If it is there and you want to reinstall the game port, delete it from the Device Manager, then reboot your computer. It should find the game port and reinstall the software for it.If it is usb, check to see if your USB devices are still available in Device Manager. You can apply the same processes as above for reinstalling the USB.

Thanks a lot for your help.I had to reinstall some of the USB devices that for some reason were missing from the Device Manager, but everything is OK now.Thanks once again.Hugo