How do I disable sync to a dead computer?

All of my content on my iPad is set to sync from a given laptop. Unfortunately, it's dead, so I can't sync to it, and since all content categories are selected for it, I can't sync the content from another laptop. I can't see how to remove that laptop from the iPad. I tried renaming a new one to the old name, but the iPad still isn't syncing. It says 'Sync will resume when "XXX" is available' I'm typing this message on that computer, so it seems available to me. The iPad is plugged in and on WiFi, so I would have thought that all conditions are being met.

On the laptop side, in iTunes, all of the options on File->Devices are grayed out. I've tried both authorizing and deauthorizing the laptop, but no luck. I've also had home sharing from this laptop both on and off.

Any help is appreciated.