I have also had problems with the Sidewinder hardware in W2K. I have a Sidewinder FF Wheel, but in the Gaming Options panel in version 4.0 of the software, the Forces tab annouces:
"An unknown problem occurred while trying to initialize force feedback."
I've previously used the wheel fine under Windows ME, and all reports say it SHOULD also work fine under 2000. One thing I should mention is that when installing the software from the CD, I received a prompt to locate "hidusb.sys", which I had to download. Is this the problem? If so, what do I do about it? Any pointers would be appreciated!