Vista - gamepads not working, no game controller aplet

I can't figure this one out at all:

Running Vista Ultimate 64 with Sp2 beta. e6850 3ghz, 2x8800, 8gb and the controllers are: Logitech Dual Action, Logitech Rumblepad 2 and 360 controller.

Everything worked fine until, I went and used a 360 controller emulator (don't bother telling me i shouldn't have - I have that covered). I backed up all the original drivers and installed the emulator. it didn't work, so like an idiot I tried putting them in the sys directories to replace the system drivers thinking that might work.... ok bad move it didn't work, so I replaced everything back to the way it was and continued life without a 360 controller.
I plugged in the Rumblepad 2 and it IS recognized by the logitech software, but the microsoft game controller control panel wouldnt start. Also the pad doesn't work in ANY game.
I tried reinstalling microsoft common controller 64bit but it gives me an error message "not enough storage available to process this command." - I've tried every work around i could find with no luck. (note: it's not the "not enough server storage..." error). Back to the joystick problem - I've also replaced the joy.cpl and direct x drivers, ran dxdiag with no errors, nothing seems to fix the joystick problem, and I can't install the common controller 64 bit without the error. ARGH!

update: now the game controller control panel is missing (and no it's not hidden)..

So to sum it up, I THINK I need to:
1)reinstall dinput drivers?
2) reinstall the game controllers aplet?

ANY CLUES WWELCOME!!!!