When you plug in a joystick, there are certain things that have to happen for the joystick to become available to programs like QJoyPad. Mainly, the joystick has to be recognized and drivers have to be loaded. Even if this process is automatic on your computer it could take a few seconds, so if QJoyPad can't find your device right away, try again a few moments later. If driver modules aren't loaded automatically, don't forget to load them before you ask QJoyPad to look for new devices. If you keep having troubles, see Section 5.2.