Odd PS(R) Gamepad Controller Problem - need help.

[kcorcoran]

Here's an odd question that's somewhat specific.
Wondering if anyone has had this issue and found a fix for it.

I'm running Hyperspin an older motherboard with 2 USB to PS2 controller adapters that show up in Windows (XP) as PS(R) Gamepad Controller.
When they work, they work well.

I've troubleshot this down to a hardware issue.

Sometimes when the system is restarted, both controllers show up (as seen by running joy.cpl) but neither of the 2 controllers register any button presses as if they aren't connected.
They're there.. I can see them, they just don't work.

Only when I manually unplug and replug the controllers in do they come back online in a functional state.

I've tried running a command line program from MS called devcon.exe which allows you to manage devices by device ID by removing, restarting, enabling, disabling, etc.

The program does what it is supposed to but none of these options actually fix the issue.
I can successfully restart the USB_ROOT_HUB on the system board which then removes the 2 connected devices (PS(R) Gamepads) and automatically re-adds them but this doesn't remedy the issue.
I've also tried doing this at the PORT level and finally at the DEVICE level but none of those have any effect.

Only manually unplugging the device and replugging it in fixes the issue.

I'm assuming that the +5v on the USB needs to be cycled in order to reset gamepad support since unplugging effectively interrupts +5v.

I've searched for a command line way of cycling or interrupting power to the hub on the board or at the port or device level but after a couple of nights on Google there's nothing I could find that can do this.

Ideally I'd like a solution that doesn't require user interaction.

I've considered rigging up a 5v relay inline with the 5v usb power line and then controlling the relay on startup using a line from the serial port. I could then have a batch send a command to the serial port to cycle the +5 on the USB line.. basically unplugging and replugging it in.

I only assume this would work as I haven't tried manually cycling the +5v aside from unplugging the entire cord.

I thought about putting a timer relay inline to the +5v on USB so that it would cycle power or switch to close the circuit after a set time but that would have to rely on the machine always taking the same amount of time to boot. By forcing the HS intro screen to play would buy me some leeway in the startup time as I would want the controls to be active by the time HS gets to the main menu.

Someone mentioned that disabling usb legacy support in the bios could solve the problem as USB won't come on until the OS starts but I need to get a hold of a PS2 keyboard before I can try that.

Any help is appreciated.