That message indicates to me that the iPad is being recognised as a camera and that the 'windows camera wizard' is opening and is not finding any photos or videos on your iPad - is that what you are seeing ?
If you no longer have iTunes installed on your computer then you can redownload it from here : http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Depending upon what's been done to/on your computer, then deleting and reinstalling iTunes shouldn't delete any backups that are stored on it - unless, for example, you've updated or reinstalled the operating system on your computer.
If you reinstall iTunes then it should automatically pick up any backups that are still on your computer - if you go into Edit > Preferences on it (iTunes > Preferences on a Mac) then the Devices tab on it (as on Diavonex's screenshot) should list your backups.