iPhone 3G no longer appears in My Computer cant get to my pictures

Ive been searching everywhere for a solution to this problem. No one seems to be sure what to do. Ive poured over the Apple Forums, Microsoft Fix It, etc. No good. Hopefully someone else has figured this out and can help me.
My iPhone 3G no longer appears in the My Computer area. When I connect, my photos are no longer downloaded to my Windows Live Photo Gallery. Everything is fine from the iTunes side...it syncs, music is fine, apps are fine. It charges just fine.
But I cant get the computer to recognize the camera side of things. In my Device Manager, there is an exclamation mark next to the iPhone under Portable Devices. Ive tried uninstalling that and reconnecting.
Ive tried working with the Apple Mobile Device Driver under Services, making sure it was started, restarted and set to automatic.
I found a guy here on the Apple forums who wrote:
1. Copy 4ea12.msi from C:windowsinstaller to the desktop.
2. Right click on 4ea12.msi and select uninstall.
This will uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support.
Follow the instructions and close out.
3. Right click on 4ea12.msi on your desktop and select install.
This will reinstall Apple Mobile Device support.
Well, 4ea12.msi isnt even on my computer. I dont know what that means, but its nowhere. I looked.
So, if anyone has a fresh approach that could help me, Id be eternally grateful.
Peace
Windows 7