XP: Game controller applet not working

[sailor]

I open control panel, double click on "game controllers" (joy.cpl applet) and nothing happens. It will not open the applet. I have restored joy.cpl file but still nothing.

In Device Manager, Standard Game Port Manager Driver reports it is OK

I/O
0x00000201-0x00000207 Standard Game Port OK
0x00000200-0x00000200 Standard Game Port OK

Driver
gameenum, Game Port Enumerator, c:\windows\system32\drivers\gameenum.sys

Human Interface Device Access Service is running. (I do not know if it is necessary or affects the game port at all but just in case.)

Win XP Pro SP2
Mobo EPoX 8KHAL VIA 266A, CPU AMD ATHLON XP 1800+, 768MB RAM

What can I do to get the Joystick applet to work?
Google was no help.

 

[sailor]

Anybody? I would think that the Control Panel items work in similar way so any knowledge about Control Panel items would be helpful.