Congratulations for your marriage and steady paycheck.
When was the last time you rebooted your computer? Seen many kinds of strange behaviour due to the sleep and hibernation functions people use for saving a minute in boot time.
Check if Windows can see your joystick.
Also, unplug and re-plug your controller, maybe in another USB port.
If there's something wrong with your USB controllers or other device drivers, use
this batch file to find problematic devices:
Copy/paste the following lines to Notepad and "Save as" "Devices.bat" under All Filetypes.
@echo off
devmgr_show_nonpresent_device s=1
start devmgmt.msc
In Vista and newer OSes right click and run as administrator, and don't forget to select View>Show hidden devices.
It may also be possible that the USB cable has broken down. A replacement can be made out of any USB cable costing next to nothing, if you're handy with a soldering iron.
If your stick has permanently bit the dust, there's a couple of alternatives in the price range of a Logi Extreme 3d:
Thrustmaster T.16000m is very accurate with its HAL detectors,
Thrustmaster T-flight X Hotas being the most cost effective Hotas in the market. Both fit the hand the same way as the Extreme 3D
