Gamepad stuck on down position only in Mala

[nimbo]

First post!

These forums have proved to be a treasure trove of information, but I have a problem for which I can't find a solution.

I'm running Mala 1.05 on a WIN98 SE system. Now my problem is that both my USB gamepads are exhibiting some strange behaviours in Mala. For some reason, the calibration seems off, causing my game list to constantly scroll downwards. This means that I can neither use my pads or my keyboard to scroll. If I disable "use joystick" under the controller->joystick tab in options, the problem goes away. Of course, that means I can only use keyboard scrolling.

Now, if I go to controller->joystick->check, I can clearly see that my d-pad is stuck in the down and right position. A quick test confirms this: if I go back to the game list, and hold my d-pad in the "up" position, I am able to scroll with keyboard. If I let the d-pad go, it scrolls down to the bottom again.

Now, the strange thing is that Windows is showing my pads as fully calibrated. Also, they work perfectly fine in Mame.

The pads are both different models:

1. Thrustmaster Firestorm Digital 2 (2 axis + 12 buttons)
2. Saitek P380 Dual Analog (standard Playstation 2 configuration)

If I set the Saitek to analog mode, and program Mala to use POV up and down for scrolling, the problem goes away (though both analog sticks are showing as uncalibrated towards down and right position). However, I want to use this in digital mode, as I intend on hacking the Thrustmaster for a control panel.

It seems to me that there is something wrong with the way Win98 SE is communicating with Mala, because if I duplicate my setup under WIN XP, everything works. I need to get it working under WIN98 SE, and any ideas are appreciated.

PS. I tried to be thorough, hope I don't wind up confusing anyone