"Devices" does NOT appear in itunes and my itouch cannot be detected, help?

For some unknown reason my itouch just quit syncing with itunes. I bought a new sync cord to no avail. I removed itunes from my laptop as directed and reinstalled. No change. In fact, itunes help, directs to reinstall the device only there is no "Devices" option anywhere in itunes. Under "File" and "Sync ipod" all of those options are grayed out. What must be done to fix this problem?