I have Win2k Pro + SP3 installed
When I install the game pad (it`s the old one with gameport)
it just works fine. but after a random time of playing any
game with the pad, suddenly the game minimizes and
a "New Hardware found" dialog pops up. Now there
are 2 devices installed, one MS Sidewinder 3d (unknown), and
my Sidewinder Game Pad (OK), but now i have to restart
the game and remove all devices and reinstall the gamepad,
before it respones again in any game.
Well, this really annoys me.
( The Problem also occurs with Win2k SP2 and without any SP,
but not on WinXP or the 9x series )

Hi did you just select your gamepad in the the controllers applet in control panel or did you install the Win9X/NT drivers? If you had to install any drivers then you should uninstall them, because they aren't necessary on Win2K. Are you sure you selected the correct game pad? Have you tried updating [url=HTTP://www.Microsoft.com/DirectX]DirectX[/url]?
You might also poke around here: Microsoft's Game Controller Site

Good Luck,
Christian

I installed it in the controllers applet. Also I didn`t use the win9x drivers, because they wouldn`t even allow me to install them (made for win 95)
I have the correct game pad, its working with all other windows ( also
it say "Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad" on the package ^^ )
I have DirectX 8.1 installed, newest VIA and Soundcard drivers.
Unfortunately the MS site doesn`t support my gamepad. Only
the new USB version, not the gameport one.

I haven't had one single problem with the game pad (gameport/classic version) in Win2K ever. My guess is that your sound card driver fails to properly support the Win2K gameport interface. Have you tried any other sound cards on the system.
-Christian

I have an old Soundblaster 16 ISA lying around here, I am going to
try this out (for luck my motherboard has 1 isa slot ^^).
Thanks for the Advice (the onboard AC97 sound sucks anyway)

Sounds good. You might add a Set Blaster Variable to your autoexec for legacy apps. Creative Labs cards pretty much all work flawlessly in Win2K, I have no experience with 8-bit versions, but I think anything 16-bit ISA or better should do you just fine.
-Christian