iPod and iPhone syncing, but not appearing in iTunes

I have an iPhone 4 and an iPod classic, neither appear in itunes however they both sync when I they are plugged in. They act as if they are plugged in however they just dont show up so I can't change what goes into or out of them. Windows always asks me "what do you want us to do with this device." when I plug it in, maybe windows is choosing to do something with it? I'm not sure.

This is extremely frustrating because my iPhone is unresponsive currently and I need my originally synced computer to restore it as the home and power buttons both aren't working.

Things I have done already:

tested different cables

restard computer and device

followed these steps exactly http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1538

followed these steps exactly http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1369

removed all traces of itunes from my computer and reinstalled

I'm at a loss so I'm hoping for some help.