Gamepad Input Mapping Woes

[Dustin Mustangs]

I am trying to get 4 gamepads hooked up to my mame machine for the console games and also to serve as players 3 and 4 for mame as well as an option for players 1 and 2.  I have 4 ps2 controllers sitting around that don't get much use, so I thought I had struck gold when I found a 4 way ps2 to usb adapter on ebay called the joybox 5.  Well, I got it, and it does work, but I am having a few problems...

First off, it won't let me map it's buttons to keyboard keystrokes.  I'd like to map these so I don't have to put a bunch of 'z or joy1 button 1' in my current input mappings in mame and in my fe.

Secondly, if I have this joybox (and the controllers) connected to my machine at boot I get the hardware conflict blue screen of death.  So basically, every time I turn my machine off I have to go in and remap most if not everything with regards to these gamepads due to the fact that they cannot be connected during a boot.   

So I am just wondering if this is normal gamepad behavior or if this joybox 5 is a steaming pile.  Can some gamepads have their buttons mapped to keyboard keystrokes?  Do some allow you to leave them connected when turning on and off your machine?  If so, do your input mappings stay as originally configured when you do so?  Can you recommend a good gamepad (or better yet a 4 way ps2 adapter) that can do all this?  I was looking at the logitech rumblepad 2 as far as gamepads go. 

My machine runs XP and I'm using mala as my fe it matters...

Thanks for any help!

 

[Malenko]

for a controller on a PC.... I use a wired XBOX 360 controller, but now you can use wireless ones too.
I never had a lot of luck with adapters, usually they'd work for a while then have problems down the road.

[Dustin Mustangs]

Unfortunately, I've never really put much time in on an xbox, so the unfamiliarity of that controller kinda rules it out for me.  I kinda figured the adapters may be bad news, so that's why I've been looking into gamepads a bit, like the rumblepad 2 I mention above.

[Malenko]

Unfortunately, I've never really put much time in on an xbox, so the unfamiliarity of that controller kinda rules it out for me.  I kinda figured the adapters may be bad news, so that's why I've been looking into gamepads a bit, like the rumblepad 2 I mention above.

ummm..I guess... the 360 controller is like a playstation controller in terms of where the buttons are, even the analog sticks; just more comfortable to me. I only suggested the 360 controller because, microsoft makes the driver for windows AND makes windows, so that cuts dont on the possibility of BSODs

I looked up the logitech rumblepad 2, and it looks like a generic PS2 controller so I really dont see why the 360 controller wouldnt be better. I digress