Right after posting I found there was a 3DConnexion driver left over (even though the hardware was disconnected and drivers uninstalled). After re-installing & uninstalling 3DConnexion and rebooting, I got things to work.
It seems that FR gets confused if there are multiple joystick-type HID controllers? It would be nice if in such a case it would allow the user to choose the controller. It's very inconvenient to have to completely uninstall 3DConnexion tools in order to use FR.