I've had problems with them before as well. They all went away after I bought a precision 2 USB. However, I still occasionally use an old sidewinder Game port model that I borrow from a friend, and it seems to work fine. Make sure the attatched software is installed (even though it should be already included in Windows xp), and that you let the computer auto detect it. If it doesn't appear right when you plug it in, go to Control panel-> game controllers-> add and choose (Microsoft SideWinder (Auto Detect). If that doesn't work then you're screwed. I believe Microsoft discontinued the sidewinder line, so you will be hard pressed to replace it, not that you would ever want to. I still consider sidewinder to be a superior, reliable joystick.