Frenchy,
That is EXACTLY what happened to my stick.....and I mean EXACTLY!
I took the darn thing apart and looked for loose wires (after a 35 minute phone call with HT) and whatever I did, the darn thing started working.
I was getting the "move too fast" message when the stick was setting on the desk UNTOUCHED.......forget about flying with it that way.
Hope you can get yours lined out and get back in the air. I am gonna keep this one til I can afford a Saitek X36 HOTAS setup and some rudder pedals......Milenko says his work fantastic, I am just not sure what brand will work with the Saitek setup.
I was looking at some of the films from a few of our Jug versus Jug dogfights Frenchy.....those were great fun, even though I lost.......

I have been choosing an airbase a little farther away from the action in order to get some alt, then I head in once the Jug is in her element.
I do not understand how come the .50's seem so weak.........my dad's cousin flew Jugs in WW2, and he said that when you hit something with that arsenal of .50's, especially near or at the convergence point, whatever aircraft was in your sight "simply ceased to exist. Son, we're talking about a 3-4 foot diameter area where them shells was hitting all at once.......no plane was armored enough to take that much fire that fast."
The old guy is in his 80's now, but he said the Jug was tough enough to take a lot of fire and still bring you home........told him about the things that knock you down in AH, he just laughed and said "that did not happen much in the real world. Unless you lost a lot of parts from the damned thing, it would get you home."
Talking about the dive, he said " I never ever heard about anyone getting caught in a dive.......once you stuck that nose down, it was like the other guy went into reverse........you were gone in a big hurry."
Sorry for the rambling......just got to thinking about him.