"iTunes could not backup iPad because session could not be started w/iPad"

Question

I was in the process of backing up my iPad this evening and it was, by the bar graph progress indicator, about 95% done but was taking FOREVER to get through that last bit. Then the power went out.
Now when I plug in the iPad and run iTunes, the synch goes ultra quick and then I get an error message saying: "iTunes could not backup the iPad because a session could not be started with the iPad".
Per one suggestion I found in some user discussion groups, I went into the iTunes preferences and deleted the backups it showed for my iPad. I drilled down into the folder where the backups are usually stored and those backups were now gone.
Unfortunately, that didn't cure the problem.
Nothing I do seems to work. Anyone care to give me some things to try? This is really frustrating. As it stands I have NO backup and I have some data on the iPad (like in writing apps, journal, etc.) I dare not lose, so I'm hesitant to do anything like a hard reset.
Message was edited by: mtnmedic

Answer 1

FIXED IT!
Before I got to my fix, here are the things I tried, none of which seemed to resolve the issue or improve the situation:
*Checked cables and connections
*Restarted iTunes
*Restarted my PC
*Checked to make sure PC date/time/time zone were all accurate
*Checked to make sure my security software (MS Security Essentials and Windows FIrewall) were up-to-date and no conflicts
*Made sure I had proper permission for the iPad backup folders. To ensure that, I selected the folders and clicked on "Take Ownership" in the context menu.
*I made sure that my user account is an Administrator account on this PC
*I logged out of my primary user account and logged in as the Computer Administrator (basically, a different user acccount that is an Administrator) and tried to do the backup to iTunes from there.
Failing with all of those things, many of which are suggested from the Apple knowledge base, I was just about to backup my iPad onto another machine, then transfer the backup to this PC and restore the iPad from here using that file, maybe even removing and re-installing iTunes, etc. Everything so far short of wiping the iPad and starting over from scratch, which I feared might end up happening.
Then, a lightbulb went off in my head. Why not do a reset on the iPad itself? Not the usual soft reset but the kind of reset that restores function to an iDevice when it isn't responding: press and hold both the Power and Home buttons at the same time and hold them until the device restarts, ignoring the "slide to turn off" prompt. After it finished booting up, I connected it with my PC, which brought up iTunes automatically, then...lo and behold, instead of seeing the rapid synch then error, it went right into backup. Took about fifteen minutes but it finished the backup without a hitch and synched the iPad.
So there you have it: one more thing to try. Maybe the FIRST thing you should try? It was so simple! I wish I'd figured that out BEFORE I did all that other stuff I mentioned above!
I'd like to read comments from anyone who has also experienced this problem and has tried my "fix" suggestion.