iPhone not connecting to iTunes!

Okay so for the last week I have been trying to connect my iPhone to the iTunes on my laptop to no avail. I have done literally everything I have found on the internet. I reinstalled iTunes several times, I went through dll's, system processes, the`whole nine yards. It connects fine to my PC but my PC is falling apart and is incredibly unreliable.

When I plug in my iPhone I get an error message in iTunes saying it can't connect. That's the most recent reaction. Previously the iPhone would show up for a second on the left bar and then drop out. Then there was a time when my laptop read the phone only as a camera. The rarest though is when the iPhone and iTunes occasionally begin syncing but then it just stops.

I really am trying to avoid restoring mt iPhone. It takes forever and that would involve me using my PC and I'm afraid it will die in the middle of restoring and screw up my iPhone. Plus I have already restored it once and both after it was activated and after it was restored (I was having phone call issues) the iPhone would not reconnect.

Please help.