I have been suffering from the same problem. I have used previous drivers, beta drivers and combination in between but with no success what so ever. I than decided to contact the people over at Saitek/Madcatz support. With that collaboration a solution was just figured out!
It comes down to a simple but specific issue in the driver install process. There are two different hardware versions of the X52 which are "PID 075C" and "PID 0255". For some reason the installer and Windows 10 isn't installing the 0255 driver, instead it's forcing the 075C. At least, this was the case for me.
The solution I have is easy but takes a little time to get done because your system might want to restart. First a disclaimer because were manually changing drivers here, this should be done exactly as I tell you for it to work correctly. If it doesn't or causes damage to any hardware on your PC, you take whole and complete responsibility for the repercussions of the result. This isn't meant to scare you but if you deviate from these instructions that's on you. I will tell you where to stop if you need to. With that out of the way, here we go.
I am running Windows 10 Pro x64 with the new Anniversary Update. Therefore some instructions may not match up exactly. I will try, keyword there try, to remember what happened to me in the Nov update ver of Win 10, but no guarantee. There is also the possibility this only worked cause I have the new update installed, so if it doesn't work first time around try updating to the new update and try it again. I wish I could say one way or the other but I don't have an image before my update, cause I forgot to make one, and don't feel like reinstalling Windows 10 again. Sorry in advance if this doesn't work for you.
Instructions with the assumption that you have both the latest drivers and software (7.0.53.6) installed all ready:
01: Plug in you X52 to your PC.
02: Go to your "Device Manager " on your PC. This can be done by either searching for it (type in Device Manager in the search box) or by opening up File Explorer, Right clicking on "This PC" then go to "Properties". A windows will open, where "Device Manager" will be the second selectable option on the far left of the window. It will be below "Control Panel Home" and above "Remote settings".
03: Look for "Human Interface Device", there will be an arrow pointing to the right to the left of the name, click it.
04: Find the two devices titled "X52 Flight Controller (HID) and "X52 Flight Controller (USB)"
05: Right click on the "X52 Flight Controller (HID)" and go to properties.
06: A new window will come up called "X52 Flight Controller (HID) Properties". There will be four tabs at the top, go to the one that says "Details".
07: There will be a drop down box below the title "Property". You want to click that box and then go to where it says "Hardware Ids". It should be the third one down.
08: The "Value" box should change and the first thing you should see is "HID\VID_06A3&PID_0255&REV_0101".
Something to note, you could see something different here, instead of the 0255 it could be 075C, with different information around it, this means your having the reverse problem I did. So keep in mind when I say 0255 and change that to 075C in your circumstance.
If none of these two are shown, then your either using a X52 Pro (shame on you for not knowing the difference) or something else is wrong with your X52. At this point STOP and contact Madcatz support to get things sorted with them. As I understand it, these are the only two drivers provided for these two hardware versions in this file and anything different is another problem in of it's self and beyond this fixes ability to help with. Another possibility is that they do have a third hardware version but use one of the two older drivers for it to work and I will not speculate as to which one it is or I could be totally wrong. Certainly feel free to try both drivers but keep in mind, your taking the risk here. Which is why I say contact Madcatz first.
09: Close the box by clicking OK at the bottom and then right click on the "X52 Flight Controller (HID) and left click on "Uninstall". A prompt will come up asking you to confirm, before you hit OK, select the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device" and then press OK. If it says you need to restart do it! When your back to desktop go back and remove the "X52 Flight Controller (USB)". Again restart if requested.
10: Go back to the Device Manager and find the "Programming Support" and expand it like you did at step 03.
11: Now in this order right click and uninstall "Programmable Hotkeys", "Programmable Support for Keyboard", "Programmable Support for mouse" and lastly "Programmable Root Emulator". Make sure you select the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device" and then press OK. Restart when asked. The reason you have to do this in this order is because the Root Emulator will not uninstall if anything else is present, which is why this one is the last one.
12: At this point you will need to have winrar or 7zip installed, I use both but prefer winrar. With the latest drivers downloaded (for me it was Saitek_X52_Flight_Controller_7_0_53_6_x64_Drivers) go to the file location and right click on the file, then click "Extract Here". Keep this location up and in your mind since were coming back to it.
13: Open Device Manager back up and you should see "X52 Flight Controller (HID) and "X52 Flight Controller (USB)". If you don't have the anniversary update there should be just be a "X52 Flight Controller" entry. If there isn't one, you should see an unrecognized device and that should be your X52. If you're unsure re-follow steps 06 - 08 and verify the PID information and use that device from here on out.
Once I was at this point with the Anniversary Update (not with Nov update), I could see I that the software was active in my taskbar. For grins and giggles I tried to see if the Control Panel would come up and it did! This is also going to be a sign that this is going to work for you from here on out. If you're wondering the driver version read 6.2.2.0 and the digital signature was Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher. Whenever I uninstalled the driver in the Nov update my X52 came back up as unidentified in device manager, at least until I manually installed the driver but I never specified to Windows which one to use. This is why this fix should work for anyone who doesn't have the Anniversary Update yet.
14: Now, right click on each one of these entries or just the one and click on "Update Driver Software..."
15: Choose option 2 which is "Browse my computer for driver software (below that it says) Locate and install driver software manually."
16: Navigate to where you unzipped (aka extracted) that folder and choose "\Saitek_X52_Flight_Controller_7_0_53_6_x64_Drivers\Inf\X52-Stick_Saitek_0255". Each time you're asked to restart do it! I didn't say I'll do it later, I just restarted and then installed the next one on my list. I chose the HID first and then went to the USB in case you're wondering.
18: Now try opening your Madcatz Control Panel from the software icon located in the taskbar, it should have worked and you should be able to do almost everything you could before in the Control Panel but the Software wont work if you change anything, even if you Profile Now your changes!
19: To make the Software now work you now need to go back to that folder I told you to keep in mind and run the "Setup" file in there. Windows will probably ask you to restart, do it. It will than install the things we removed in steps 10 - 11.
The Programing Software and Control Panel should now be working for you almost flawlessly. The things that don't work in the Control Panel is that the LED lights are either full bright or off, there is no in between. The MFD will not adjust either but it also won't turn off, so that's annoying but a livable annoyance considering.
I hope those affected by this find success with this. It took me a little more than a week working with Madcatz to be where I am now and I hope it helps someone. Enjoy folks!
