Does anyone know why a built in webcam would randomly disappear, the laptop does the USB device removal noise when it disappears. Has been reported to work for weeks then just decide to stop working.
It's possible the camera might have gotten shocked. I've seen USB mice/keyboard cause that USB sound to go off/on when they got shocked. It might have even damaged the circuitry for the USB camera itself.
You might be able to find a replacement for the camera - on ebay or something. They should be fairly cheap as most laptop cameras are only 1.3MP.