Ok I'll handle the Noob. Well, noober than me anyway.
You need to edit your controller plug-in to set up your controller. One of the options in the Configure Controller plug-in is to check the plugged in box. It really depends on which plug-in you use. Setting up your controller plug-in will do it though.
(might sound silly but) also make sure your drivers for your controller are up to date, and its calibrated. And its a bad idea to post 2 threads on the same thing, so i sugest u delete the other one kthnx