Iphone 4s not recognised by computer (Technical challenge)

I'm literally at the end of my tether and need some help but keep going in circles on the apple website. I have a 4s and a windows 7 laptop (possibly 64bit), I have had the phone two months and up until two weeks ago all was well now when i connect my phone to my laptop nothing happens. No little windows usb noise, no acknowledgment on itunes, My usb ports are fine other usb items connect fine, the cable i'm using to connect is also my power lead and when plugged into the main it charges, whilst plugged into my pc it does not charge.
Ruling the ports and the cable out i can only presume it is either a software issue on the pc or on the phone both would be strange as i haven't changed anything and it just stopped one day. I have followed the apple advice about re-installing the driver as it did not show up in my devices under the USB tab, the tab showed USB composite device which i'm guessing was my phone as it disappears when i unplug the cable. Anyway, I followed more instructions and attempted to re-install the driver however it would think about and then give me error code 10! However when i then look on my devices "USB composite" has changed to apple mobile device but with an exclamation mark, which apple tells me this means there's an error and to re-install it however the same thing keeps happening. Someone please please help me, my life does not depend on me updating my iphone however i paid for an iphone and i've invested a good two hours going in circles here.
P.S I have done all the easy stuff which hasn't worked e.g. Turn off phone, reset pc, delete and install itunes etc…

Call up apple or take it into an apple store with your laptop. The apple staff are very friendly and are always willing to help you out.
Hope this helps and good luck.