Originally Posted by alienlan
I had the exact same issue. And all I had to do was :
1. Logout out and back into my machine (to make sure iTunes helper app started up again.)
2. Open iTunes
3. With iPhone connected via usb, press and hold the Power button and Home button for 15-20 seconds until the yellow triangle appears
4. Then in iTunes it was there and I could restore
Cheers,
Alienlan
I did this many times over and over
but in the end i went on my windows pc
plugged it in waited and it worked
then froze
so i unplugged it went back into my room with my mac
and held sleep+home again like you did
but this time the holy triangle came up
thankgod ive got it working again