PC does not recognize ipad; itunes does not recognize ipad

Question

Using itunes 10.2.1, iOS 4.3.1.  Cannot get itunes to recognize ipad.  Have reinstalled itunes many times.  Have gone into DFU on ipad many times.  Have played with usbaapl many times.  Out of ideas to fix.  Ready to frisbee ipad into street below.

Answer 1

Hello I had a similar experience and searched and searched the forums until I came across this fix, I manually updated the apples drivers manually myself rather than letting windows find them,for me this worked. I tried everything in the book and I mean everything, as soon as I updated my itunes program to the newest version and tried to plug in my iphone my computer would not recognize my device nor would it show up in itunes, I don't know if this will help anyone else or if I have posted this in the right place but it worked for me, I did not have to disable any of my spyware or uninstall itunes just followed the instructions in the link below and pretso it worked, so far so good it is early days and I am yet to try my ipad 2 using this way so hopefully it will work I had the same problem with both devices on my computer after the new update...mine all came down to the drivers on my windows xp and the new update from itunes hope this helps someone else as well.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1538
I also followed a very old thread (sorry I can not find this thread anymore) from a few years ago that helped ....THANK YOU TO THE PERSON WHO POSTED IT YEARS AGO IN SOME FORUM
I went to device manager and found my iphone in a heading under others generally it show up in the heading under usb controller if installed correctly (why it showed up here in the first place I have no idea, it was also showing iphone with a yellow question mark I then highlighted the iphone then clicked up the top of the screen to update drivers
Welcome to hardware wizard pops up I clicked no not this time then next
I choose to install from a specific location I then clicked on browse to find the file C:\ Program Files\Common Files\Apple\ Mobile Device Support Drivers then clicked next I waited 30 seconds before plugging my iphone back into my usb and presto  my phone showed up in itunes and on the computer by manually updating the drivers myself..Good Luck I really hope this helps someone else and if it does could we please pass the fix along as this drove me nuts for days....