annoying problem with interact hammerhead gamepad

[Evander]

I have a hammerhead connected to the game port (not the usb port), and it's set to sports simulation mode which will allow me to use either the 8way dpad or the analog pad. Problem is, I'll start up a game, but only the the analog will work. But if I open the game controllers in the control panel and then exit, I'll be able to use either the dpad or analog (which is what I want). How can I fix this without having to screw around in the control panel