iSight Issue - Hardware or Software?

Hi

I seem to have an issue with iSight on my 2009 Macbook Pro in that it 'disappears'. I don't know under what circumstances, but I'm a sparodic Skype user and most often the camera isn't available. When I notice the problem, it's also no longer showing in System Profiler or available for PhotoBooth etc

A restart makes it come back.

I've had my local Apple Store look at it, they cleaned and reseated the connection. But the problem is still present.

I have 3 months of Apple Care left, so if it's hardware I can get it sorted. But I also need my laptop every day for work (including weekends) and can't really be without it, so if it's not going to fix it there's no point!

Has anyone else had the problem? Is there any way I can log it so I can identify the circumstances in which it disappears?

 

Done all that. But since there must be a point where the device disappears, is there not some sort of log to see what was going on at that time? Is it the driver crashing, the hardware failing, a piece of software causing a problem etc?