One problem I ran into, and you may be running into also, is that your joystick drivers and SSt programming version have to match.
Mine was fine, but through Windows updates I got updated joystick drivers. My stick program stopped working. I went to the Saitek site and followed their FAQ's and discovered the problem. All I had to do was download and install the new SST software, and put my old stick file into the Saitek folder-problem solved.
My guess is that either you or your friend has the newer joystick drivers.
Just a guess though...
MtnMan