I'm having a similar problem.
I am porting an SDL game to OpenXDK.
I have tested the game in Windows, and the controller code works fine.
Testing on the xbox SDL_NumJoysticks() returns 4, even if no controller is plugged in.
My test setup:
Latest CVS build of OpenXDK (I had to comment out line 74 of mikmod.h in SDL_Mixer to get it to compile though)
Xbox V1.0
Evox m7 and X2 4981 and X2 4982
Pelican Wireless Controller, MS Controller S, MS Controller (Duke)
I get the 4 controllers error everytime.
Any suggestions?