I just tested it with my xbox 360 controller and it worked fine. What type of controller are you using? Maybe the USB port on your computer isn't working, can you try plugging the controller into a different USB port?
really sorry if it still isn't working, I usually use keyboard myself so when I started adding controller support to my games I bought an xbox 360 controller for testing and so that's the only controller I can guarantee will work... although I don't understand why other controllers with the same kind of buttons and switches wouldn't work equally well.