itunes won't detect ipad 2

I've installed and re-installed the latest itunes 64bit on my win 7 machine. yet itunes will not detect it.
I've tried multiple usb cables. tried differnt usb ports yet to no avail.
every so often it will detect and let me sync but 99% of the time its an everyday battle to get my ipad to detect on itunes.

I have an iphone 4 that seems to detect fine. yet i can't figure out why ipad 2 wont detect. I've even restored my ipad 2.

I've tried everything I can think of.
I even formatted my computer, download itunes and install it on a fresh system and same problem.

I'm at my wits end. I can't understand why its so hard to detect it.

device manager sees it fine. but itunes locks up when i connect the ipad 2. if I disconnect it, itunes becomes available. Everytime I connect my ipad itunes throws a fit and becomes unusable for like 5 min, a very long pause as it thinks about something.


anyone have a workaround for this?

I went to the apple store and a tech there told me, buy a mac, that will sole your problem....seriously?
then he said or uninstall and reinstall. which I've done several times, that does not fix the problem.