problems with swapping out one joystick for another

[gjackx]

First time poster here, so sorry for my lack of knowledge and lack of joystick vocabulary (also, I apologize in advance for the all of the pictures). 

I did what I thought was a fairly good job of replacing the joystick on this:

with one of these (an iL Eurojoystick Blue, model # IL-A03442-B): 

I attached all the wiring, just like it had been before.  I then tried using MAME with it, but it didn't work at all.  The buttons still had life, but not the joystick.  So, I thought it might be a good idea to use parts from the original stick.

So, I swapped out all four of these  with the original ones that came with the arcadian stick in question (still did not work).

Any ideas of what I might have done incorrectly?  What I could try next?  Did I break it?  Is it possible that this joystick is just not compatible with this setup?

Thanks in advance and my apologies for anything I did or said incorrectly.   

[processedmeat]

Does the joystick show up in Windows controller setup?

Also, take a photo of the joystick wiring. 

[JDFan]

What exactly do you mean it doesn't work ( ie. joystick always inputting like stuck in all directions - or a single one -- no movement in any direction, etc.) - Are you sure you moved the wiring correctly -- the microswitches have 3 prongs each but only 2 are used (so you need to make sure the 2 correct ones are being used ) -- Also are all of the ground wires ( the wires that connect to the top part of the switch (further away from the other 2 prongs) connected to each other or each one running separately ?  If the all connect to each other and you connect one of them incorrectly or to the wrong prong all directions will stop working ! -- if they each have 2 separate wires then connecting one wrong will just break that one direction.

Does the second wire to each (aside from the ground(common)) connect to the NO (normally open) or the NC (normally closed) post ?? If connected to NO the button will only send a signal when the switch is pressed (which is what you want) IF connected to the other prong the switch will always send a signal unless the switch is pressed ( opposite of what you want) - so make sure all of the second wires are connected properly to NO prong and the ground wire(s) all go to the ground prong (common).

[gjackx]

Okay, I'm a complete moron. Somehow I managed to put everything together without the little square piece that hits the pushbutton switches. Without it, there could be no connection and this is why the joystick did not work at all. Thanks for the assistance though, much appreciated!